Enchanted The Life of Witches
by EnchantedNuns
Summary: Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie are three friends leading a normal life until they discover their magic powers. They haven't even processed this discovery when they're told they are the Enchanted Ones, the most powerful witches of all time, and on top of that: they're half-sisters. Their life changes drastically when they have to work together to banish evil…and not to fail in school!
1. Enchanted, the Life of Witches

**Disclaimer: Some characters appearing in this work are based on real persons. The individuals involved are aware of this. All remaining characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.**

 **A.N.: Thanks to skitterbait on Wattpad for designing my cover! (Dit verhaal bestaat ook in het Nederlands. Zoek naar** ** _Betoverd, het Leven van Heksen_** **op mijn profiel.)**

* * *

Based upon the television series _Charmed_ and inspired by the television series _Buffy, The Vampire Slayer_ and _Angel_

* * *

'What's old collapses, times change, and new life blossoms in the ruins.'

From _William Tell_ (1804) by Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805, German poet)


	2. Who is the Witch?

August 2010 – Nathalie B. is a 16-year-old girl with short, light blond hair streaked with golden locks. Nathalie is built more sturdily and taller than most girls of her age, but she doesn't care. She's happy and fond of laughing, but unfortunately, she's also a sickly girl. That's why she's at her gynecologist's office for a check-up today.

In the ashen consultation room, she has settled into a soft, leather treatment chair. While Nathalie's lying on her back in the chair with her legs in the stirrups, her gynecologist, a blond woman of 32 with blue-ish green eyes, examines Nathalie's private parts.

'So Nathalie, how are you?' the gynecologist asks to put her at ease.

'I'm okay. It has just been my birthday. It was an awesome party,' she chuckles as she stares at the office's grey ceiling.

'Really? How old are you now?' During the conversation the gynecologist simply continues her examination.

'Sixteen. It was a really big celebration.'

'Sixteen, huh? I remember my sweet sixteen. You probably got a lot of presents?'

'Yeah, I don't think I ever got this many presents.'

The conversation continues for another couple of minutes until the gynecologist puts down her instruments and goes and sits behind her desk. She allows Nathalie to tidy herself up again and then ends the consultation.

'Well, that looked fine, Nathalie. You can go home now,' she says. 'Make a new appointment when you leave.'

'I will!' Nathalie nods. She exists the consultation room, leaving the gynecologist all by herself. Suddenly, the intercom buzzes. A women's voice sounds from the device:

'Mrs. Delie just called. She's cancelling her appointment for tomorrow.'

'Why?' the gynecologist asks surprised.

'She has the flu. Her GP won't let her go outside.'

'Okay, call Mrs. Peters and ask if she wants to have her appointment an hour earlier.'

'I will, ma'am,' are the last words from the intercom. The gynecologist rummages her desk a bit and muses, _Sixteen, these girls sure grow up fast._ All of a sudden, though, she hears a man's chilly voice say:

'Kill the witch!'

The voice is hoarse, sharp, and frightening, and has appeared out of nowhere. The gynecologist is scared out of her wits and instinctively reaches for her throat. _What was that?_ she thinks.

The voice has stopped. Without further dawdling, the gynecologist takes her notebook, but the voice makes itself heard again. This time it's louder and the blond woman can understand it better, but it's also even scarier:

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch!'

'Is anyone there?'

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' the voice speeds up and repeats itself.

'Whoever you are, this isn't funny!' the gynecologist screams, but the voice has stopped again. The woman breathes a sigh of relief and calms down. She stands up confidently and walks to the treatment chair. When she turns around, a man is suddenly standing in front of her.

'Who are you?' she asks startled. The man doesn't reply, but steps closer and stretches his hands out to her.

'Aaaaaaaa...', an icy scream sounds from the consultation room, but no one heard it or saw a thing.

* * *

Shortly afterwards, policemen have gathered in the consultation room of the gynecologist, who was found dead there. Detective Rick Martens heads the investigation. Martens is a simple man who quickly made a career for himself through thorough police work, but now at the age of 41, the large man with his signature bristly grey moustache wants to take it easier. Today that's unfortunately not an option.

In a beige overall and with a blue tie over his white shirt, the detective walks into the gynecologist's office. Here he immediately addresses a member of the forensic team:

'Who's the victim?'

'Jessica Klein, a 32-year-old gynecologist,' the forensic scientist responds.

'Okay. Who found her?'

'Her assistant found her at 4:45 pm. She's still in shock,' the forensic expert points to the young assistant for a moment. She's sitting on a chair with a paramedic beside her.

'I want to talk to her later. Now I'll go see the coroner first.'

Martens enters the consultation room and there he sees the lifeless body of Jessica Klein, the blond gynecologist, sprawled on the floor. She's slumped on the floor like a discarded dishrag. Her eyes are wide open and her head is bent sideways at an unnatural angle, a gruesome sight for someone who doesn't have a cast-iron stomach like Martens.

The coroner, a small, stout white-haired man with a pair of glasses, leans over her and examines her neck. As soon as he notices Martens, he straightens up.

'The poor child! She was in the pink of health. She could have easily become 50 years older,' the coroner, who's about ten years Martens' senior, says.

'How did she meet her end?' Martens asks. The coroner tilts Jessica Klein's head to show the reddish purple fracture of her neck.

'Her neck was snapped. She died instantly.'

'Did you recover any fingerprints or other evidence?'

'Interesting that you should ask,' he produces a see-through strip from his research bag, 'We were able to lift a fingerprint off her neck, but…'

'But what?'

'See for yourself,' he hands the detective the strip. Martens takes a quick look at the fingerprint and reacts in astonishment:

'Well, I'll be damned, the grooves of this fingerprint run parallel to one another!'

'Indeed. I've never encountered such a thing in all of my career.'

'Take her body to the morgue and see if there's anything that could explain this fingerprint. I'll just have a chat with the assistant.'

Martens steps outside of the consultation room and approaches the young, trembling, and shocked woman. He squats down to her to get on the same eye level.

'Are you Mrs. Klein's assistant?' he asks her.

She nods anxiously. 'Yes, I'm the one who found her.'

'Tell me a bit more.'

'Her previous appointment, a girl who had just turned sixteen, left her and I said through the intercom that Mrs. Delie had cancelled and she replied that I needed to call Mrs. Peters. Five minutes later I wanted to ask her something, but she didn't answer. So I went to her and found her here: dead!' The young woman immediately bursts into tears again.

'Thanks for your cooperation. If there's anything else you remember, you can always drop by or call the police station, okay?'

With red, teary eyes the young woman nods and Martens rises again. _Something about this case is definitely out of place_ , the detective ponders.

* * *

September 1st – The pupils of the Antwerp Saint-Joseph's College return to school. Saint-Joseph's College consists of a kindergarten, elementary school, and high school, and owes its reputation as a prestigious school to its open space. The green, refreshing park, the ancient castle for the seniors, the warm cafeteria adjacent to the large gymnasium, and the main school building on the other side of the school pond each contribute to the good atmosphere of the school that harbors toddlers, children, and teenagers.

Nathalie B., the blond girl that had an appointment with Jessica Klein, starts her junior year here. She's standing by herself at the toilets of the main building's playground, the usual rendezvous spot for the older pupils. A girl with short, brown hair and blushing cheeks walks up to her.

'Hey Nathalie! How are you?' the girl greets her cheerfully.

'Hey Dorien! Oh, I'm okay,' Nathalie says glumly.

Dorien and Nathalie go way back to elementary school and they are the best of friends. Yet Nathalie knew all too well that she would be submitted to tales of a Greek island where Dorien had spent her holidays. She didn't feel up to it for the moment. As a matter of fact, she didn't feel up to anything. Today she just couldn't manage being happy and cheerful.

Dorien immediately notices her bad mood. 'Ow, that doesn't sound too convincing. Did something happen during the holidays?'

'Well…', just when Nathalie's about to pour her heart out, Dorien catches sight of a different girl: a beautiful, long-haired brunette.

'Kim! We're over here!' she waves enthusiastically to the girl. Kim, the long-haired brunette, walks up to them at once when she notices them.

Kim Jansen is the kind of girl that gives boys a wet dream. She's gorgeous, has long, wavy brown hair that reaches until just above her well-shaped behind and she has stunning greenish grey eyes. She isn't just astonishingly beautiful, but she also has a heart of gold.

Oddly enough, she isn't your typical popular girl that everyone wants to be around. Perhaps it was because she hung out with the school geeks, whom she actually called her best friends. Perhaps because her ex-boyfriend did belong to the popular crowd and she was trying her hardest to avoid him. When Kim reaches Nathalie and Dorien, she greets them warmly.

'Hey. How was your holiday?' She brushes her glossy hair across her left shoulder and smiles at her friends.

'Mine was so incredible,' Dorien blabs out. She had been waiting the entire time for a moment to tell her tale. 'Cyprus is amazing in the summer!'

'And you, Nathalie? How was yours?' Kim addresses her.

'Not so well actually,' she responds.

'How come?'

'Well, a couple of days after my birthday, I had an appointment with my gynecologist. Afterwards, I left her and the following day she was dead. Can you believe it?' Nathalie tears up just thinking about it and sobs. Dorien hugs her to comfort her. Kim wants to embrace her as well, but she suddenly notices two other girls: a short girl with gingery brown hair and an even shorter blonde.

'Hé, there's Kelly and Tinne,' Kim nods to the two girls. They just arrived on the playground from the park alley and have spotted their three friends.

'Look, Kelly, there are the others!' Tinne, the blonde and the shortest of the pair, points to their friends.

'Where? Oh, there,' Kelly, the one with gingery brown hair, recognizes their friends. Just like Tinne, Kelly C. befriended the others because she had no one else, but the group gets along with her a lot better than Tinne. She calls a spade a spade and she isn't afraid to share her sometimes inappropriate opinions. With her pinkish skin, braces, and acne she isn't the prettiest girl in school, but it didn't stop her from being the first of the group of friends to lose her virginity.

Kelly has medium-long, brown hair with tuffs of ginger falling to her shoulders. She used to have problems with alcohol and nicotine, but she has quit those. She does still have an addiction to blond men who are at least four years her senior, like her gay friend Björn.

Kelly and Tinne cross the distance between them and the toilets and steadily join Nathalie, Dorien, and Kim. The remainder of the playground starts to fill up too.

'Hey. How's everything going?' Tinne beams.

'We're fine, but Nathalie has had it a bit rough,' Dorien smiles cautiously.

'Burn,' Tinne laughs, but when the others glare at her, she changes her tone, 'No seriously, what's wrong?'

'Yes, Nathalie, go on. You can tell us anything,' Kelly assures her.

'Yeah, so I went to my gynecologist's after my birthday and the next day I was told that she had died,' Nathalie tells her story again.

'Darn, that's tough,' Tinne mumbles.

Then the school bell rings. Afterwards, the principal announces the homeroom teachers, teachers that'll supervise a class for an entire year, via a microphone and said educator raises his or her hand. Next the principal assigns a group of classes to a homeroom teacher, after which those classes follow their teacher into the school building.

* * *

Tinne, Dorien, Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie are in the same group of classes with Mrs. Hofwegen, a pleasant young teacher with chestnut brown hair and wide hips, as their homeroom mistress. Kim is in 5 Latin-sciences (5LSC) and her friends in 5 Human sciences a (5HUMa). Together with the rest of their classmates, they enter their classroom and seat themselves on metal chairs with wooden seats. Kelly sits down beside Kim.

'It's so cool that we're in the same class this year,' the former whispers.

'Yes, I'm so happy that Latin-sciences is paired with the Human sciences,' Kim whispers back. When everyone has found a seat, Mrs. Hofwegen calls them to order. The pupils shut up and Mrs. Hofwegen introduces herself, after which she gives an overview of the coming school year.

* * *

After four periods, the first day of school comes to an end and all pupils receive a new and mostly heavy set of books to take home. So does Kelly, who has to carry the set to the sixth floor of her apartment building. She arrives at her apartment, but struggles with the set of books when she wants to enter through the door. A blond female neighbor of 56 with blue-ish green eyes helps her out with the books for a moment before they tumble to the floor.

'Thanks, Lidia! These books are getting heavier by the year,' Kelly pants.

'Anything to help. You know, in my day, we had to write down everything the teachers said in a small notebook with a fountain pen and then copy it out again at home,' Lidia tells her. Kelly regains her balance and steps into her apartment.

'Wow, you guys must have had it rough in school,' she says.

'Yes, but luckily I've long graduated. That's not an option for you anytime soon, is it?'

'No, unfortunately not. Thanks again! Bye.'

She closes her apartment door and leaves Lidia alone in the hallway. Lidia wants to open her apartment door when she suddenly hears something.

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' the same man's voice that Jessica, the gynecologist, heard whispers in the hallway.

 _What kind of noise is that?_ Lidia turns around and peers through the hallway, but there is no one in sight. She shakes her head and turns back around.

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' the voice continues, only louder and sharper. Terrified, Lidia fumbles around with the keys to her apartment and she drops them on the floor. When she turns around to pick them up, the same man that was at Jessica's is suddenly standing in front of her. She's spooked:

'Ooh! Please, you startled me.' Yet the man shows no emotion and grabs her at the neck.

'Help!' Lidia shrieks. Kelly hears the cry for help from her apartment and storms out.

'Lidia, what's the matter?', she sees Lidia lying dead on the floor and screams, 'Aaaaaa…o no!'

Just like Jessica, Lidia's slumped on the floor like a discarded dishrag with a neck fracture and her eyes spread wide open. Again the killer is nowhere to be found.

* * *

Not much later, the sixth floor of Kelly's apartment building is packed with police officers. Detective Martens is also present. He immediately seeks out the coroner at Lidia's body.

'Who is it this time?' he asks the coroner.

'Lidia Schellekens, 56 years old.'

'Was she killed the same way as Jessica Klein?'

'Yes, a broken neck as well and another parallel fingerprint.'

'Again? So we're sure it's the same killer?'

'100 per cent sure! By the way, don't you see the similarities between the victims?'

'What do you mean? They were two different women. The first was 32 years old, the second 56, and they ran in different social circles.'

'No, they were both blond and had blue-ish green eyes. And the last people to see them alive were teenage girls that attend the same school.'

'Really? Who was the last person to see her alive?'

'Kelly C., sixteen years old,' the coroner points her out from a few feet away, 'The girl next door; she found her this way.'

'Thanks. Take her away,' Martens nods to Lidia's body. 'I'll have a chat with this girl next door.'

Assistants carry Lidia away on a gurney while Martens walks across the hall to Kelly's apartment. Kelly's leaning against the doorpost of her quarters and staring absently at her surroundings.

'Hello, I'm detective Martens of Homicide. Are you Kelly?' he smiles in a friendly way.

'Yes, that's me and if you were wondering, no, I did not kill Lidia. She was a lovely and helpful woman,' Kelly bows her head in respect for the deceased woman and sobs for just a moment.

'So you knew her well?'

'Yes, she occasionally babysat me when I was little and she helped me with my homework from time to time when I didn't know something. And now…' She's too upset to finish her sentence and just shuts her mouth, her lips trembling from sorrow.

'I'm sorry for your loss. When you walked into the hallway, did you notice anyone suspicious?'

'Detective, this is an apartment building. Do you have any idea how many suspicious people I run into just climbing the stairs?'

'But you didn't see anyone out of the ordinary that you didn't recognize?'

'No, no one that stuck out.'

'Thank you for your cooperation. One of the officers will ask for a written testimony, but hang in there.' After these comforting words, Martens retreats and leaves Kelly alone with her grief.

* * *

Lidia's murder contrasts sharply with the joy in the class of 5LSC and 5HUMa the next day. After all, it's Kim's birthday; she turns sixteen today.

'Now that you're sixteen, you're finally legal to drink alcohol, right Kim?' one of her classmates says. The boy is lanky, blond, about 6ft. and 3inch. tall, and good friends with Kim's popular ex.

'Alcohol isn't really my thing, so nothing changes for me,' she replies.

'Really, though? It's a welcome bonus either way,' her classmate chuckles. Mrs. Barends, the class' new, short, and blond math teacher, is standing at the front of the classroom, impatiently waiting by the blackboard for the pupils to shut up.

'Come on. Quiet, everybody! It's time for math now!' she orders them.

'That's right, I'm trying to pay attention,' Kelly hisses. Math was never her forte, but since it's only the first lesson, Nathalie thinks she's overreacting.

'Oh Kelly…' She nudges her teasingly, but she accidentally knocks over Kelly's utensil case. The utensil case drops off the school desk, but Kim immediately launches herself forward to grab it.

During her body hurl, she's completely hanging over her desk and fully extending her arms. Instinctively, she's also stretching her hands while doing so. Suddenly, she's able to simply snatch the utensil case from the air.

'I got it!'

With the utensil case in hand, she slides back into her seat and puts the case back in its spot. Yet then she notices Kelly and Nathalie gazing around them in surprise. Their mouths are wide open in bewilderment.

'Is something going on?' Kim asks.

'Well, aside from the fact that everyone stopped moving…' Kelly whispers while she looks around.

Now Kim gazes around too and indeed: no one is moving. Everyone is sitting motionlessly above their notes and Mrs. Barends has stopped writing on the blackboard. Not a sound is to be heard: no breathing, whispering, or scratching of writing utensils.

'Not everyone's standing still. We're still moving,' Nathalie remarks.

'Yeah, that's true and really weird,' Kim stands up, strolls about, and occasionally waves in front of the other pupils' eyes.

'They don't blink, nor do they breathe,' Kelly whispers.

'Why are you whispering?' Nathalie asks.

'What if they can still hear us?'

'Don't make a fool of yourself!' Kim looks someone straight in the eyes, but gets no response. 'This is probably one of their lame pranks.'

'Then it has to be one heck of a prank if Mrs. Barends is in on it too,' Nathalie says. Meanwhile, Kim is standing in the center of the classroom and flailing her arms about.

'Come on, the prank is over! Start moving again!'

Still, no one is moving. It's really starting to get on her nerves. So much so that, out of frustration, she goes to stand right in front of someone and waves past the person's ears, her hands stretched.

'Wake up!'

Suddenly, things are beginning to liven up again. Everyone is back to taking notes and sound returns. Then Mrs. Barends faces the class and sees Kim standing in the middle of the classroom.

'Kim, could you be so kind as to return to your seat?' the math teacher sneers.

'Yes, ma'am,' she squeaks before she sits back down on her seat. No one is laughing and everyone is staring at her as if she has just gone mad.

'This was so weird!' Kim whispers, still flustered.

'Totally not normal!' Nathalie murmurs.

'We'll talk about it during recess,' Kelly whispers.

* * *

After the first two periods, the relieving recess follows. Juniors and seniors have to stand on the playground behind the school building. It's a relatively small playground that's partly covered in concrete and partly in asphalt. Kim, Nathalie, and Kelly discuss the situation in a corner of the bare playground.

'You can't possibly call what happened this morning normal,' Nathalie exclaims.

'What exactly did happen this morning, because I can't keep up anymore?' Kelly asks in confusion.

'Well, your utensil case fell off your desk, I wanted to catch it, and I stretched my hands. Suddenly everyone was frozen and when I stretched my hands a second time, everyone was moving again,' Kim explains.

'Strange things are happening a lot lately, aren't they?'

'What do you mean? Did you experience this kind of stuff too?' Nathalie asks.

'Well no…not really, but…'

Suddenly, one of their peers interrupts Kelly. A short girl with short, brown hair, a pointy nose, and pale skin approaches them. Up until last year this girl was in the same grade as them, but she had to redo her sophomore year.

'Hé, I heard that your neighbor from across the hall was murdered yesterday.' The girl's high-pitched squeaky voice cuts through marrow and bone.

'Is that true?' Nathalie asks Kelly.

'Yes, Lidia, my neighbor, was found dead.'

'You know what I think? I think you killed her,' the girl sneers. She peers at her, arms akimbo and a superior look in her eyes. She never got along well with Kelly.

'Get a grip, Greet!' Kim barks.

'Kelly would never hurt anyone!' Nathalie defends their friend as well.

'Besides, Lidia was the kindest person I've ever met,' Kelly says. She doesn't want to think about her neighbor too much because it only causes her grief. The pain is still too recent.

'But you're just the devil!' Greet snarls with her squeaky voice.

'You annoying…!' She doesn't finish her sentence, but she squints at her out of profound hatred.

'Kelly, leave her,' Nathalie holds her back.

'Bitch!' Greet cackles. She strolls off and Kelly is still squinting her eyes out of anger. Suddenly, Greet flies against the glass door of the school building. It appeared as if she tripped, but the momentum with which she smacked against the metal-framed door seemed different. While some concern themselves with her, the three friends burst out laughing:

'Hahaha, serves her right!'

'Sluts!' Greet scolds them when she storms past them.

 _She never learns_ , Kelly growls internally. She squints her eyes again. Now Greet flies halfway across the playground and lands painfully on the hard concrete surface. This time it was obvious that she in fact whizzed through the sky and didn't just trip.

'Oow!' she moans. Immediately, the atmosphere on the playground shifts and a few girls help Greet on her feet. She's all scratched up and her knees and hands are bleeding. She's taken to the school's receptionist at once where she can be looked after.

'Did you do that, Kelly?' Nathalie asks.

'I don't know. I just squinted my eyes.'

'I think it might be better if you didn't.'

The bell rings and the pupils have to get back to class. The girls get in line behind the slow mass of teenagers trying to enter the building.

'Nathalie, I would watch it if I were you,' Kim warns her.

'Why?'

'Well, we each experienced something weird today. Who knows what might happen to you?'

'Stop it!' Nathalie blows her off. _This is all a big coincidence_ , she thinks.

'I would still be careful,' Kelly advises her.

'Oh, don't be so paranoid,' she bolts inside in an irritated way. _On the other hand, once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times…_ , she doesn't want to dwell on it and hurries up the stairs of the school building.

* * *

The rest of the day passes without any strange events, to Nathalie's great pleasure. At least until the five friends arrive at the bicycle shelter alongside the park alley and Kelly's cellphone rings.

'I have to take this. You guys go on ahead!' she remains in the middle of the park alley and answers the call. Tinne, Dorien, Kim, and Nathalie walk into the bicycle shelter without her.

The bicycle shelter is enclosed by green steel fences and only has two exits, which merely emphasize the similarities between schools and prisons: a small gate ornamented with spikes at the park alley and a large one at the side of the main school building. The shelters themselves are entirely brown due to rust, despite the rooftops of corrugated plastic that protect against the rain. Not that they help much against the almost constant Belgian downpour.

The four girls unlock their bikes when, all of a sudden, they notice a pack of cycling children storming towards Kelly from the park. It often happens that the elementary school kids of Saint-Joseph's College receive bicycle lessons and apparently today was such a day.

'Kelly, get out of the way!' Kim warns her. Kelly can't hear her, though, because she's trying her utmost to concentrate on understanding her cellphone.

'Kelly, turn off your phone!' Tinne yells. The cyclists are approaching and still Kelly doesn't notice them.

'Kelly, here!' Nathalie shouts. She's waving her arm to signal that she has to come to her. Even the cyclists are fanatically ringing their bells. Only now does Kelly notice them when she turns around. She is startled and shrieks.

'Kelly!' Nathalie waves her arm towards herself and Kelly suddenly lights up a blue color. Kelly's figure fades in the powder blue light and changes into a calm sea of surging light orbs. The blue light orbs scatter swiftly and quickly hover towards Nathalie. They leave a blue light trail for a short bit, but Kelly has vanished.

In the bicycle shelter, the light orbs glue together again and Kelly appears from the bright, blue sea of light, after which the light fades. Nathalie and Kim manage to catch her just in time when she materializes anew. Meanwhile, the enthusiastic children ride past in confusion.

'Wow, that was weird!' Kelly wobbles on her feet. She's still flustered and searches for a look of understanding from Nathalie and Kim.

'We told you so, Nathalie,' the latter says smugly.

'What's up with you guys today?' Dorien asks, having witnessed the entire spectacle, her eyes the size of saucers.

'No idea,' Kelly mumbles. She frees herself from her friends' grasp and dusts herself down. 'Well, I propose we stay the night at Kim's to discuss this entire mess.'

'Yeah, it'll be just like a birthday party. A sleepover!' Kim cheers.

'You know, I would love to come, but I have tennis practice later,' Dorien answers.

'And I need to be home early to pick up my baby sister,' Tinne says.

'It's okay. We'll have plenty of fun with just the three of us,' Nathalie snickers. The friends say goodbye and ride home on their bikes.

* * *

The following morning, Tinne arrives at school really early. Via the park alley the short blonde rides into the bicycle shelter, which is already open. She's so early that there's nearly no other bike inside and there isn't a living soul to be seen. _Gosh, I'm early. No one's here_ , she thinks. Though, all of a sudden, she hears something:

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!'

Startled, she looks around, but there's nothing to be seen. Hurriedly, she locks her bicycle. A freshman boy is just cycling through the park alley when he notices a weird man standing behind Tinne. _Who's that?_ he wonders.

'Kill the witch!' it sounds loud and hoarse from behind Tinne's back. She's startled and spins around to face the man behind her.

'Who are you?' she asks him. Without any warning he extends his arms to her. Meanwhile, the freshman has dismounted his bike and watches on cautiously from behind a tree.

The strange man roughly grabs hold of Tinne and snaps her neck without hesitation. Lifelessly, she drops to the ground in the bicycle shelter. The snapping of her cervical vertebrae is deafening and makes the freshman boy tumble backwards out of fright.

'Aah! What's this?' he screams. The man turns to him and gazes at the boy, a hollow expression on his face. The boy in turn catches a very clear look of the man. His skin is pale and his hair long, sleek, and black. He also has a high forehead, which has been tattooed with a reversed pentagram.

 _A pentagram?_ as soon as the boy notices it, the scary man vanishes. All of a sudden he's nowhere to be found, as if he were a fata morgana. The boy looks around, but sees no one. He's the only witness. Panic-stricken, he calls the police and flees.

* * *

A half hour later, Nathalie, Kim, and Kelly arrive at school. When they cycle through the park alley, they see a large mob of policemen gathered near the bicycle shelter.

'What happened here?' Kim asks.

'I hope no one was kil…' Nathalie doesn't finish her sentence hoping her greatest fear hasn't come to life at her own school. _Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times…_

'Let's get closer,' determined, Kelly drags her two friends to the scene of the crime. They approach the bicycle shelter and inside they see their friend Tinne lying dead on the ground. Police officers and the coroner circle her body like a flock of vultures.

'O no, Tinne!' Kim cups her hands over her mouth and bursts into tears.

'How is this possible?' Nathalie's absolutely guttered. _How could this have happened a second time to someone I knew personally?_

'There's the detective that's investigating Lidia's murder,' Kelly points out detective Martens.

The detective with his bristly grey mustache catches sight of the three girls and approaches them.

'Did you know the victim?' he asks.

'Yes, that's Tinne P.. She's…was in our class,' Nathalie replies hoarsely.

'How did it happen?' Kim snivels. Her eyes are red with tears.

'Girls, I can't share that kind of information with you guys.'

'Please, sir, Tinne was one of our best friends and we won't tell. Is there really nothing you can share with us?'

Martens has his doubts for a moment, but his heart goes out to the affected teens. 'Well, her neck is broken just like previous victims we've found.'

'Has the police found any kind of evidence?' Kelly asks carefully.

'Yes,' he sighs, 'each victim had a parallel fingerprint on her neck.'

'Who found her?' Nathalie asks.

'We don't know. We received an anonymous tip.'

'Do you have any suspects?' Kim asks.

'No, we haven't been able to link anyone. But I really can't tell you more. Swear to me that you'll keep quiet!' Martens peers sternly at the three of them.

'Don't worry. We'll be as quiet as the grave,' Kelly reassures him.

'I have to move on now. Do you know anything else?'

'No. Thanks for answering our questions,' Nathalie thanks him kindly. Martens departs and leaves the girls alone. The freshman boy that witnessed Tinne's murder then approaches the scene.

'Oh my, what happened here?' he tries to act surprised, but fails. He sounds far too forced and looks around the area way too panicky.

'You don't really seem surprised that our friend was found dead here,' Kim remarks suspiciously.

'Nonsense, I'm very surprised. I'm really not the person who tipped the police,' as soon as he spills the beans, he bites down on his lip out of anxiety because he gave himself away.

'You alerted the police?' Nathalie eyes the boy with a grimace that's a mixture of incomprehension, astonishment, and anger.

'Yes, but please, I really don't know anything, nothing at all!'

'Did you see who did it?' Kelly asks. The boy clams up and peers at the ground in shame.

'You did see it. Spill!' Kim orders him. She barely doesn't pinch his ears like an angry mom.

'No, I don't want to. And even if I did, you still wouldn't believe me!'

'Calm down. You know what? After school, you come with us and tell us everything you saw. How's that?' Kelly proposes in a reasonable tone. The boy agrees and nods, after which the party of four struggles through the dismal school day with mixed emotions.

* * *

After school, Kelly, Nathalie, Kim, and the boy who witnessed Tinne's murder go to Kim's place as Kelly proposed earlier. They're in Kim's room, but the boy still feels uncomfortable.

'Okay, tell us what he looked like. Nathalie will draw a sketch of your description.'

Kim tries to comfort him by smiling at him in a friendly way and gives him an encouraging pat on the back. Nathalie, on the other hand, keeps a pencil, an eraser, and a sketchbook at the ready. She's the only one of the three girls with a knack for drawing.

'He had a hooked nose, hollow cheeks, jet black eyes…'

'Jet black, seriously?' Nathalie interrupts him skeptically.

'Just do what he says!' Kim hisses. Nathalie resumes sketching and the boy continues:

'So, he had spiky hair, pointy ears, pale skin, and the freakiest thing of all: he had a reversed pentagram tattooed on his forehead.'

'A pentagram? This dude is sick!' Kelly is revolted just thinking about it. _I've come across a heck of a lot of weirdos in my lifetime, but this one trumps them all_ , she thinks.

'Were you able to draw a sketch?' Kim asks Nathalie.

'Yeah, but it hasn't paid off much,' Nathalie shows the drawing that's actually pretty accurate.

'Yes, that's what he looked like,' the boy nods in confirmation. He seems pretty certain.

'Thanks for your help,' Kelly squeezes his shoulder approvingly. He's smiling again.

Next, they search the Internet for something that matches Nathalie's sketch. They start by typing in "pentagram" in the search engine Google. Thousands of hits appear: pages upon pages of occultism and complete nonsense.

'Almost all of them are sites on witches,' Kelly concludes when they skim the screen.

'Who knows, maybe that's what we are,' Kim chuckles.

'Witches? Us? Have you gone insane?' Nathalie scoffs.

'Wait!', the boy butts in, 'That's what the guy said: "Kill the witch!".'

'Hé, if you're messing with us, you're barking up the wrong tree!'

'Nathalie, this could be really important,' Kelly defends him.

'Important? I'm supposed to believe that some freak is hunting witches?'

'Nathalie, I don't want this just as much as you do, but this lunatic has killed people,' Kelly tries to appease her.

'You've gone mental! I'm out!' she storms out of the room angrily and leaves the house.

'Nathalie, wait!' Kim calls after her.

'Let her go. She'll come around on her own,' Kelly says. _At least I hope so._

* * *

Furious and sobbing, Nathalie bolts through Kim's neighborhood, but after a couple of yards she slows down and loafs about the streets. Because of everything that has happened lately, she's completely flustered.

 _What's wrong with them? I want out of here! I wished I was at a bus stop already_ , she thinks and suddenly, she lights up a blue color just like Kelly before. Her body fades in the light and scatters into a surging sea of powder blue light orbs. The sea of light then rises into the air in a blue beam.

The following moment, the blue sea of light appears at the nearest bus stop and the orbs reshape into Nathalie's figure. She _orbed_ to the bus stop as it were.

'Stop it!' she screams to no one in particular and she starts crying.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kim and Kelly continue to plow through the Internet with the freshman boy.

'Try using Google Images,' Kelly suggests and Kim types in "pentagram" in "search for images on the Internet". Again thousands of results appear: pentagrams in all shapes and sizes.

'That's a lot of pentagrams,' the boy remarks, slightly overwhelmed by the abundance of images.

'Do you see the killer amongst them?' Kim asks.

'No,' he shakes his head, 'maybe if you scrolled down.'

Kim does as he says and suddenly, the boy recognizes the ugly front from the pictures.

'There, that's him!' he points to the image. Kim clicks on the icon and the party of three sees a site filled with pictures of strange beasts appear on the screen. "Demons and creatures of the dark" is used as the website's heading.

'There he is: the Wiccatin,' the boy points to the screen again. He's pointing to the image of a screaming figure with a bleeding pentagram on its forehead. Kim clicks on it and reads what it says on the picture:

'The Wiccatin is a low-ranking demon and kills witches to prevent them from developing their powers and destroying its kind. Its favorite prey are blond witches who haven't yet discovered or are only just discovering their powers.'

'Blond witches? O no, Nathalie!' Kelly realizes what kind of danger they're all in. She sends the boy running and when he has left, she and Kim hurriedly search on.

'Does it say anything on how to make this Wiccatin disappear or something?' Kelly asks. Kim scrolls further and sees something that might help.

'The Wiccatin can only handle one witch at a time. Two or more witches would overpower it.'

Kelly shakes her head. 'We need to hurry to find Nathalie. She might be next soon.'

'But where could she be? She left in a fury.'

'She's probably at a bus stop, as always. I'll ask Björn to drive us around.'

* * *

A little after twilight, Nathalie, calm again, is still waiting at the bus stop. Suddenly, she hears the icy voice of the Wiccatin:

'Kill the witch!'

Panic-stricken, she looks around, but she's all alone in the brightly lit street. Just her, the bus stop, and a few dark green anti-ram posts (small metal posts that protect shops and precarious crossroads against swerving traffic) alongside the sidewalk.

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' it sounds louder. _Nathalie, watch your back! Don't let it get to you,_ she tries to empower herself.

'Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!' the pace accelerates. Suddenly, the Wiccatin is standing behind Nathalie. She senses its presence and whirls around. The Wiccatin grasps for her, but startled, she instinctively orbs out in a hovering sea of blue light. She reappears from the waft of powder blue light orbs several feet down the road.

'Hé, that's actually pretty useful!'

Next she makes a run for it. The Wiccatin growls and chases her.

'No way you're going to put your hands around my neck!' _Let's hope this works._ 'Post!' she points to an anti-ram post and it scatters into a surging sea of blue light orbs. It shifts position, maneuvers in the path of the Wiccatin, and reappears as a solid metal post.

'Kill the…aah!' The Wiccatin crashes against the shifted anti-ram post, which hits it in the gut, tumbles over forwards on the ground, and stays down.

'Yi-ha!' Nathalie flees cheering. She wants to be as far away from the Wiccatin as she can as soon as possible.

* * *

In the meantime, Kelly and Kim are aimlessly being driven around by Kelly's older gay friend Björn. The two girls are hanging out of the car's windows and inspecting the streets, on the look-out for Nathalie.

'There's the bus stop!' Kim points to the stop all of a sudden.

'Björn, drive slower from here on out,' she commands the older guy. Suddenly, Kim notices something different.

'There…the…Wic…Wiccatin!' she stutters. She's pointing to the creature with the pentagram tattoo lying on the sidewalk, still knocked-out.

'Nathalie couldn't have gotten far then,' Kelly concludes. They drive for a short while and discover a panting Nathalie on the corner of a street. They immediately jump out of the vehicle.

'Nathalie!' they cheer.

'Oh, I'm so glad to see you guys!' she pants. The three friends immediately hug each other.

'Did you come across that guy on your way here?' Nathalie asks.

'Yup, he's lying flat on his belly,' Kim nods.

'It's a Wiccatin, by the way,' Kelly grins, feeling a tad bit superior because she identified the creature.

'A what?'

'A Wiccatin, but that's unimportant right now,' Kim hugs her tighter. Though, all of a sudden, the Wiccatin appears out of nowhere and it's standing right next to them. It growls and stretches its arms out to snap their necks.

'Aah!' Kim freaks, instinctively stretching her hands. This causes the Wiccatin to stop entirely, as if it were frozen, and there isn't a peep out of it.

'Hé, that's neat,' Kelly chuckles.

'Yes, but this is neater. This is for Tinne!' Kim kicks the Wiccatin in the groin. This causes it to move again, but it sags through its knees while shielding its private parts with its hands.

'My turn. This is for Lidia!' Kelly squints her eyes. Because of her strong emotions, the Wiccatin flies all the way to the bus stop, through the panes of the cubicle. Groaning, it tries to get on its feet from the shards of glass when the three friends come running.

'Screws!' Nathalie stretches her hands and each corner of the bus stop lights up a blue color for just a second. Next, a small pile of screws appears in the palms of her hands in a powder blue sea of light.

'Why did you do that?' Kim asks.

'That's why!' she points to the glass panes of the bus stop. The top pane falls down and the panes on the sides drop sideways, all three right on top of the Wiccatin.

'Aah!' it screams as it shields its face with its arms. The glass panes crush it and it immediately explodes. From the highly unusual spontaneous combustion, an inferno seeks its way out past the shards of glass. When the flames have died, nothing but ash remains from the vanquished Wiccatin.

'That was for Jessica,' Nathalie sighs complacently.

'We did it!' Kim cheers.

'Yes, it's gone. Now Tinne, Lidia, Jessica, and all the other witches it has killed can rest in peace,' Kelly concludes. After their victory, the three heroines confidently leave for home, but they haven't yet gotten rid of evil. This is only the beginning!

* * *

 **A.N.: In the general Belgian education system, high school amounts to six years. Belgian children start kindergarten at the age of 2.5. Kindergarten consists of three separate years and is then followed by six years of elementary school and six years of high school. The numeration of the grades of Belgian high schools don't continue that of elementary schools, so by the time Belgian pupils are juniors in high school, they're in the fifth grade of secondary education.**

 **Furthermore, high school pupils choose a "major" that they wish to study and follow the classes assigned to that "major". They do so with the same classmates during almost every class. It's important to note that in Belgium "a class" doesn't just refer to a course taught by a teacher, but also to the group of pupils who share the same courses throughout the year, such as 5LSC or 5HUMa.**

 **Similarly to college or university, classes assigned to "majors" in high school vary depending on the "major". For example, pupils that choose Latin-sciences as their "major" receive four hours of Latin and are mostly taught science subjects, such as biology, chemistry, physics, and geography. Pupils that choose human sciences, on the other hand, are taught behavioral science, cultural studies, and the natural sciences, a course which combines the material of the science subjects of Latin-sciences, but doesn't go into further detail.**

 **Some general classes, such as language courses and religion, are taught to the entire group of pupils of 5LSC and 5HUMa (in this case) and in the very same classroom. Therefore homeroom teachers are usually language teachers since pupils spend most of their time in those classes and (that) classroom(s).**


	3. Long Days

Monday September 13th – Traditionally, the Saint-Joseph's College organizes class days for the juniors because of the large amount of new pupils and the flustering shifts between last year's classes and the current groups. These days are held to strengthen the bonds between the pupils. Yet this year, the schoolboard is straying from tradition, seeing as this year's destination is Westmalle.

This year's atmosphere has also changed because of the tragic death of Tinne P., one of the juniors, two weeks ago. That's why the schoolboard especially stressed the importance of this two-day field trip, so the pupils could vent their feelings in a less strict environment.

To the three friends Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie, this doesn't matter, though. They lost one of their best friends and on top of that, they turn out to be _freaks of nature_. Their new gifts still take some getting used to. Anyway, they're ready and dressed in adventurous clothing just like their peers, and they have their bikes on hand and enough luggage for two days.

'This is so stupid! And so typical of our school: a field trip to get to know these morons of our class better. That's the last thing on my mind!' Kelly nags while she checks the texts on her cellphone.

'Yes Kelly, we know: social school business is not your cup of tea,' Nathalie sighs. _The last thing on my mind right now is suffering through Kelly's endless nagging. I already did enough of that these past four years._

'Hé, I'm no antisocial monster, you know! I just don't feel comfortable during these things.'

'Yeah, I have to admit that I don't feel up for it either. Now that Tinne's dead and we have these', Nathalie whispers, so no one hears her say, 'powers', and continues at a regular tone, 'I'm so afraid of every new development in my life.'

'Ugh, tell me about it! I constantly have to control myself and stay calm or I'll fling half the school to Tokyo and I'm someone who gets angry pretty quickly. That's double hard!'

'I mostly have to be careful where I point my hands to and watch my words or I'll zip my dog to the roof.'

'Miss beauty queen doesn't seem to be bothered by anything apparently,' Kelly nods to Kim, who's laughing over by some classmates. She's wearing a tight army tank top with loose kaki green shorts underneath and sporting a pair of sunglasses that basically cover half her face.

'Unbelievable, Tinne is not even cold yet or she's already looking for new friends!'

'Everyone processes these things in their own way,' Nathalie sighs.

At this moment, Dorien joins them. _The field trip hasn't begun yet or misfortune already rears its ugly head in the form of Dorien's baby face_ , Kelly thinks.

'Hey! Ready for the field trip?' the brunette with pink, chubby cheeks grins.

'Yeah, it'll really be super fun!' Nathalie laughs. Kelly gazes at her baffled and full of disbelief. When their eyes meet, Nathalie rolls hers and shrugs.

'I'm totally pumped up. I'm so incredibly excited,' Dorien smiles. Kelly has to control herself not to push her on the street in front of a moving vehicle. 'Oh, there's Kim! I'll go say hello to her too. Toodles!'

When Dorien scurries off, Kelly imitates her uncannily, which causes Nathalie to guffaw like crazy. _It'll be one long field trip_ , the red-headed girl sighs exasperatedly.

* * *

After an exhausting two-hour bike ride, during which Kelly and Nathalie were cycling all the way in the back with delightful Dorien as their only company, the train of cyclists finally arrives at the youth hostel in Westmalle. At first sight the building looks quite underwhelming. It's completely white, to the extent that it hasn't faded, and built horizontally with a large glass hallway dead center of the building where its two sections meet and through which the green terrains in the back can immediately be accessed from the entrance.

Everyone moves alongside the left side of the youth hostel towards a roofed wooden bicycle shelter under a bunch of pine trees. The pupils stock their bikes there for the next two days and disembark their luggage, which they bring inside. Her hot pink travelling bag at her feet, Kim's already waiting for Kelly and Nathalie. Grinning broadly, she waves at them when they arrive, but they quickly take their luggage and walk past her.

'Hey, hello, I'm right here, you know!' Kim gestures wildly. Kelly sighs, spins around, and smiles:

'Sorry, we didn't recognize you with your sunglasses on.'

'Oh,' she removes her disproportionate sunglasses and stashes them in her travelling bag, 'Better?'

'A vast improvement!'

Kim picks up her pink travelling bag and skips to catch up with the two girls. _Another hyperactive brat!_ Kelly thinks melancholically. The three friends walk to the side of the building with access to the green terrains, enter, and climb up the stairs to their room, which they share with Dorien.

* * *

The following moment, Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie are crammed in a dank room on the first floor of the youth hostel, together with their peers from the group of classes 5LSC and 5HUMa, their homeroom mistress Mrs. Hofwegen, and a camp counselor. The camp counselor is a short, skinny woman with medium-long ginger hair. When everybody's seated on a chair in a circle, the camp counselor stands up and starts to speak:

'First of all, I'd like to welcome you to Westmalle and assure you that we're going to have a really great time together these next two days. Now, my name's Fien and I'm going to be chaperoning you. You're all here to get to know each other better, right, because this is the first time in five years that you're in this arrangement?'

Docilely, everyone says and nods yes, after which Fine continues. 'Well, to get started I'd like to play a kind of guessing game with you guys to see how much you already know about each other. Everyone is going to tell three facts about themselves, but one of them will be a lie and everybody has to guess what's wrong. Oh, and you also mention your names first, so I get to know those as well.

I'll go first and then we'll just continue clockwise. Okay, I'm Fien, I'm 27 years old, I was with the Girl Scouts, and own seven cats. What's wrong?'

'Your name isn't Fien!' a boy with a Justin Bieber hairdo smirks. The thatched roof of his hair has the same color as the pop star's, but for the most part he hardly resembles the child star. The boy, for instance, has a broad nose, a square face full of zits, and a big, dark brown mold on his right cheek. He also has a slightly (annoying and) nasal voice.

'No, no, I am in fact named Fien. Something else is false. Anyway, what's your name?'

'Emmet.'

'Okay, Emmet. Well, you guessed wrong. Does somebody else want to try?'

'You don't have seven cats!' a girl with a brown ponytail guesses.

'Yet I do. Try again.'

'Seven cats? That's sick!' Kim whispers.

'That isn't that crazy. I have two back at home,' Kelly whispers back.

'Yes, but you're not allergic to cat hair.'

All of a sudden Nathalie wickedly enthusiastically raises her hand and says:

'You're not 27 years old!'

'And why do you think so? Do you think I look older perhaps?'

'No, but I just think that you were actually in the Girl Scouts because then it would maybe make more sense if you did this too.'

'That's correct, nice thinking. I'm not 27. I'm younger.'

'How much younger?' a tall, blond guy asks.

'A lady never tells her age,' she chuckles. 'Okay, we're continuing clockwise, so the person to my left is up next.'

And so the game travels around the group whilst everyone laughs with and jokes about the facts that are incorrect. Until it's Kelly's turn…

'Okay, my name's Kelly. I hate school, I have three cats, and I…am a witch.'

Straight away Kim and Nathalie stare at her in shock, but Emmet is first to guess. 'You don't have three cats!'

As soon as he says that, the others burst out laughing because everyone expected the last fact for an answer.

'Come on now! It's pretty obvious that Kelly isn't a witch, hmm. Nathalie, your turn,' Mrs. Hofwegen intercedes amongst the laughter.

'Yes. I'm Nathalie and…'

The others turn to her, but Kim still watches Kelly in appalment. After the guessing game a few more games follow, after which the group goes outside with Fien. Kim and Nathalie pull Kelly aside for a little while.

'Are you out of your mind? Do you want everyone to know?' Kim hisses.

'What? Come on! These days there are people everywhere who claim to be witches. Why would they condemn _us_ and burn _us_ at the stake?'

'Because we have certain powers, Kelly! I don't think that applies to those other people too,' Nathalie whispers.

'On top of that, we're not even sure if we're really witches,' Kim whispers.

'You just worry way too much! No one asked about it and there's no one who keeps pushing. Chill out.'

Kelly slides between the two of them and joins the others outside. Concerned, the two friends peer at each other, shake their heads, and follow the group.

* * *

The next activity, _Billy, Billy, Bob_ , is more intense than the guessing game. The group spreads out in a circle and Fien explains the game:

'Now we're going to play the game _Billy, Billy, Bob_. Has anybody heard of it before?' No reply follows. 'Well then, in a minute someone is going to stand at the center of the circle and that person will have to point to someone and say "Billy, Billy, Bob" as quickly as possible. If the middle guy is able to say this completely, the person who was pointed to has to take the other's place at the center.

Though, the person who was pointed to actually has to make sure the middle guy can't say it by saying "Bob" before the other has finished their sentence. If that person manages to say "Bob" on time, the middle guy has to stay in the center and point to someone else to say "Billy, Billy, Bob" to. Does everyone understand?'

She looks around and sees a lot of confused faces. A girl with short, curly brown hair raises her hand and asks:

'So, for example, if you're in the middle and point to me, I have to say "Bob" before you say "Billy, Billy, Bob"?'

'That's right. Is that clear for everyone?'

Now the entire group nods affirmatively and the fun can begin. It isn't long before the victims in the middle are switching with others, but there are some who have to remain at the center for a long time. They miss their shots so often that they get a nervous breakdown right then and there, as it were, until they're finally allowed to switch.

Then it's Nathalie's turn and she belongs to the "lingerer" category. She points to Mrs. Hofwegen as her first victim:

'Billy, Billy, …'

'Bob!' she beats her to it. So, Nathalie points to the next one:

'Billy, …'

'Bob!'

Every single time, Nathalie's too slow and her nervous state and constant giggling create great amusement, which doesn't make it any easier for her. It's even causing her to stumble over her own words.

'Bzwilly, killy, …no, ah!'

Out of giggling frustration, she covers her face with her hands and directs herself to her next victim: Kelly. She points to her off the bat and immediately says:

'Billy, Billy, Bob!'

In her excitement, she does make a bush behind Kelly scatter into a surging sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs. It disappears (she orbed it away), but no one notices. Not even Nathalie, because she's happy that she doesn't have to stand at the center anymore. She switches places with Kelly, but as soon as she's in the middle, she points to Nathalie:

'Billy, Billy, Bob!'

Before she realizes it, Nathalie is sent back to the center. This makes the rest of the gang laugh quite a bunch. A little irritated, Nathalie directs herself to someone and points:

'Billy, Billy, Bob!'

She beats the other to it again, but suddenly, the bush she orbed away appears above the person she pointed to in a twinkling sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs. Just as she's about to switch places with said person, the bush tumbles down.

As soon as that happens, Kim freaks and shrieks, instinctively stretching her hands. This causes everybody to stand still and the bush to be suspended motionlessly in the air.

'Great,' Kim mutters.

'How are we going to fix this?' Kelly sighs while rubbing the bridge of her nose.

'Nathalie, I think it's best if you just concentrate really hard and focus on moving that bush.'

'Easy for you to say. Just concentrate really hard!' Nathalie imitates her in a childish way.

'Just get it over with!', Kim folds her arms angrily, 'Before everything and everyone is moving again.'

Nathalie attentively studies the bush that seems to be floating motionlessly in the air and carefully points to it. 'Bush!'

The bush lights up a blue color and scatters into tiny, surging, blue light orbs, but they stay hovering close together. Nathalie peeks over her shoulder at her two friends. 'Now what?'

'No clue. Throw it somewhere where it won't stick out,' Kelly suggests.

Nathalie waves her arm to the shrubbery to the side of the circle of people and moves the blue sea of light over there. The bush materializes and gently drops. Just in time, because the following moment everyone's moving again. Luckily, no one noticed the bush and the game continues.

* * *

Soon it's lunchtime. The three courses – from soup to dessert – are swiftly devoured. During the meal, Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie sit closest to the kitchen. Next to their table, there's a serving hatch through which the cutlery and dishes have to be passed to the kitchen after lunch.

Every time someone wants to take their used tableware to the kitchen, they have to pass by the girls and every time someone brushes past them, they bump into Kelly's shoulder. After a while, that irritates her to such an extent that her anger makes the table quiver.

'Kelly, calm down,' Kim tries to soothe her. She gently grabs hold of Kelly's hand and squeezes it lightly to let her know she understands. Yet again someone bumps into her and it's none other than Emmet. Someone who had been bugging Kelly the entire time this morning.

'Oh I'm so sorry, Kelly, I really didn't mean to,' he apologizes, his words dripping with sarcasm like liquid honey from a spoon. His slightly nasal voice seems to highlight his insincere apology. Kelly takes a deep breath through her nose and breathes back out. She is gritting her teeth so badly that it looks as if her braces might snap. She raises herself up squinting her eyes.

The windows behind Kim and Nathalie start to tremble and quiver just like the table. The two friends notice and both grab hold of one of Kelly's hands.

'Kelly, just count to ten and calmly breathe in and out,' Nathalie whispers in an attempt to calm her down.

'You can do it, Kelly! Do it for us,' Kim whispers.

Kelly closes her eyes and slows down her breathing. She's nodding her head to indicate her counting pace. After seven ticks, she's completely relaxed and the table and windows cease their trembling.

Meanwhile, Emmet bluntly smacks his used plate on top of the other dirty tableware, loosely balancing it on a dish-stacked Tower of Pisa. The two female chefs in the kitchen are only just able to prevent the stack from tipping over while Emmet nonchalantly saunters off. Next, the middle-aged female chefs grunt and mumble something incomprehensible.

* * *

After lunch, the pupils get a break. Nathalie and Kelly stroll along a long, wide gravel path that winds through the entire terrain, until they reach a wooden gate. Here they take a seat on the ground. Kim isn't with them because immediately after the meal a classmate took her aside for a chat.

Once they're seated on the relatively dry ground, Kelly takes her guitar from her guitar case. Before they left, she had laid her guitar in the van that a couple of teachers used to drive to Westmalle. She tunes the guitar and starts playing and singing a few melodies while Nathalie fumbles around with her cellphone and sings along with some of the songs.

'You know, I feel like Kim's being awfully friendly again with those people from Latin. She's really starting to change,' Kelly says while she strums her guitar.

'Yeah, I thought she never wanted to have anything to do with them again after you-know-who,' Nathalie shakes her head.

'Maybe she's scouting the other Latinists for a new boyfriend?'

'Ha! That would be funny. No, I figured Kim would want to spend more time with us since the three of us are the only ones who have these kind of powers.'

'Maybe she actually wants to stay as far away from us as possible, so she isn't confronted with who she really is?'

'But she doesn't have to, does she? We've known each other for five years. She doesn't have to be ashamed of us or something.'

'As long as she doesn't hang out with Emmet out of her own free will, we have nothing to worry about.'

This causes Nathalie to snicker and Kelly laughs along with her. At this moment, Kim comes sprinting towards them.

'Hey! What's so funny?'

'Nothing…well, you know, Emmet,' Nathalie shrugs. She continues typing on her cellphone.

'Don't get me started on that Justin Bieber lookalike! Hasn't he realized yet that his hairdo is so 2009?' Kim rolls her eyes while she goes to sit down cross-legged on the ground.

'Some people just can't take a hint,' Kelly grins to Nathalie. The two chuckle, but Kim doesn't understand the innuendo.

'Why was that funny?'

'You know,' Kelly shrugs. She plays another tune on her guitar.

'What do you mean "you know"? I honestly don't get the joke.'

Nathalie gazes up to Kelly and the two share a look of mutual understanding.

'Hey, hello? I asked you something.'

'Yeah, I heard you,' Kelly says.

'Then why won't you answer me?'

'Because you might not like the answer.'

'Well, go right on ahead. I'm a big girl. I can take it.'

Kelly puts aside her guitar, places herself right in front of Kim's face, and takes hold of her hands. 'We feel that you're spending a little too much time with your classmates. You seem to have completely forgotten about us. And even though Tinne has only been dead for two weeks, you seem to be entirely over her death. Just when the three of us are experiencing a major change in our lives, you don't want to have anything to do with us.'

'What? So I can't spend any time with my classmates or have any fun? Should I be deeply depressed and constantly burst into tears because my close friend has died? Should I be a millstone around you guys' neck because I'm suddenly able to stop time? And I may seem totally heartless, but I'm suffering too.'

'Then why don't we notice?' Nathalie snaps.

'Because I need to keep strong for you guys.'

'Why?'

'Because you're completely stricken with grief and one of us has to be the others' rock. If all three of us are sitting here sobbing, there isn't anyone around to tell you everything will be alright.'

'Kim, you don't need to act strong for us. We want you to cry with us, we actually want you to show all your emotions.'

'Yeah, we're big girls. We can take it,' Kelly smiles.

'O thank goodness!' Kim sighs chuckling, but her laughing transforms into sobbing and her sobs quickly escalate to tears. She shields her mouth with her hands, shuts her eyes, and weeps like a little baby. Kelly crawls over to her, hugs her, and presses her against her shoulder.

'Let it all out,' she caresses her hair. Nathalie, too, crawls over to her. She lays down her head on Kim's shoulder and rubs her arm.

'It's alright, you know,' she whispers. The three friends sit there like that on the ground until Kim has stopped crying.

* * *

When their lunch break is over, the three girls walk hand in hand to the meeting place at the back of the youth hostel. There, the rest of the group and Fien are already waiting for them.

Next, Fien leads the group a bit further down the terrain to a dry, sandy spot under some pine trees. Here she proposes to play the game _Unfaithful Spouse_. Everyone splits into pairs of two and lies down in a circle. One partner lies down on their stomach on the ground, while the other sits on top of their partner.

Then someone who's left by themselves is going to wink to two people and they have to try to get from under their partner. The partners have to prevent this, though. If someone manages to break free and sit on top of the person who is alone, the partner that lost their "spouse" has to wink next time. The pair that stuck together then have to switch positions.

During _Unfaithful Spouse_ , Nathalie reigns triumphant, while both Kelly and Kim bite the dust. Especially when Kim has to lie beneath her ex, seeing as he's very muscular and practices judo. There's really no way for her to move an inch when she's being winked at, because her ex just keeps her pinned down.

Kelly's problem, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. Because of her tiny figure she can't stop any partner, not even when she wraps herself around someone's leg. Her classmates simply drag her along with them. Then there's Nathalie, who can easily hurl her partners away thanks to her height and can suppress them just as easily.

* * *

After plenty of romping around, playing, and exercising, the pupils can feast on their dinner. The three friends' clothes are riddled with stains, as are the girls themselves.

'This isn't fun anymore. I feel so dirty,' Kim stares blankly ahead of herself while Kelly and Nathalie dig into their meal.

'You only need to make it through tonight and tomorrow. Then this'll be all over,' Nathalie slices a piece of meat, jabs her fork into it, and puts it into her mouth.

'After dinner, I'm going to scrub myself so hard. I want to get rid of these dirty sand and mud smells. And I'll immediately put on different clothes. We weren't going to do any sporty activities after dinner, right?'

'I don't think so. Just eat up!' Kelly encourages her. Slowly but surely, Kim digs into her heaping plate, which eventually gets devoured completely.

The same ritual as during lunch repeats itself, with the serving hatch and the bumping, but now Kelly has moved over a bit more, so she doesn't risk blowing the wall in front of her from the building. Again, the used tableware is brought to the serving hatch and, again, Emmet inconsiderately places his plate on top of the dishes. Again, the two middle-aged female chefs grunt and mumble, but now they address one of the teachers.

'That boy over there, with his Donald Trump hairdo,' one of the chefs points to Emmet, 'has very brutally smacked down his tableware. That one doesn't seem to have any manners.'

The teacher stands up and taps Emmet's shoulder, 'Emmet, you'll be helping the chefs with the dishes later on.'

'What? Why?' he asks befuddled.

'Because, according to them, you need to learn how to handle tableware with care.' The teacher nods affirmatively to the female chefs and goes to sit down again while Emmet faceplants the table and mopes.

* * *

After having cleared the tables, the pupils get a two-hour break, except for Emmet, who has to help the chefs with the dishes. Some pupils go up to their rooms to rest a bit, like Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie, and others seclude themselves on the massive terrain to come to their senses. Just like two blondes who crave a moment of silence.

The two of them are sitting in the playground near the youth hostel. The playground is a large sandbox filled with white sand and equipped with playthings, such as a jungle gym. One of the two girls is just digging a hole in the white sand with her hand.

'This is so exhausting. Those counselors want to play so many games, but it doesn't feel like I'm really getting to know my classmates any better,' the digging girl's friend grumbles.

'Yeah and then they also want to organize some kind of race against the clock tonight. No, thank you!' the digging girl sighs, but suddenly, she feels her hand stroking a much harder yet smoother surface. It seems as if a whitish gray stone has appeared in the hole she has been digging.

She wipes her hand around the stone to expose it completely, but at a certain point she feels two holes in the stone. She jabs the holes and removes the sand from them whilst digging around the object. Suddenly, she recognizes what kind of stone she's dealing with.

'Aaaaaaah!' she screams. The girl bounces up and patters on her feet screaming hysterically. The scream can be heard miles away. Already other pupils come running towards it and they witness the horrifying discovery: a human skull.

In the kitchen, Emmet is able to hear the scream as well and he also sees people starting to gather around the playground. Curiously, he watches from the window. _What's going on out there?_ he wonders.

He's being sneaked up on from behind, though, by one of the chefs, a 45-year-old woman with short, black hair and glasses. She bares her teeth, revealing her rotten, crooked, and yellowy dentures.

Before Emmet fully realizes it, the chef grabs him and bites down on his shoulder. To prevent him from screaming, she holds her hand over his mouth. The other female chef, who's about the same age as the other one, but has golden curls, advances on him, licking her lips, a large kitchen knife in hand. While the first one bites him and keeps him from moving, the other cuts him horizontally above the groin, like one would to eviscerate a pig.

Emmet wants to shout at the top of his lungs due to the extreme pain, but is unable to and his eyes roll to the back of his skull. Next, the golden-haired female chef holds the knife high above her head to administer the final blow.

* * *

Several hours later, the police has arrived on the scene and the entire playground is being excavated. Four more skeletons are found. The sandy playground now resembles an archeological site, where forensic scientists try to uncover the human remains with brushes and trowels.

After finding the four extra sets of remains, the police decides to search the entire premises in case other cadavers are buried there. Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim watch the spectacle in shock with their arms folded across.

'How coincidental is it that just on our field trip a set of bones is found, just when this field trip is uniquely held in Westmalle, just after we discovered our magic powers?' Kelly wonders.

'Are you trying to say we attract bad luck?' Nathalie peers at her from the corner of her eye.

'No, but it's just a little too coincidental, isn't it?'

'It might as well be some serial killer. It doesn't have to be a…' Kim wants to finish her sentence, but can't come up with a word that could make the situation seem any less awful.

'Come on! You don't believe that yourself.'

'Okay, you're right. But what do you suggest we do? Attack everybody until we run into someone with a pentagram on their forehead?'

'It doesn't have to be that Wiccatin. That one's old news, thanks to us.'

'But what do you want to do?' Nathalie asks.

'Well, whatever this creature may be, it managed to kill four people without anyone noticing or asking about it, until now. That Wiccatin's victims were found time and again, but he didn't leave a trace. I think these creatures each possess some kind of gift that makes it impossible to link them to the bodies,' Kelly reasons.

'Yeah, so?'

'This creature is more advanced than that Wiccatin. Not only can it not be tied to the murders, but no one finds out either. That's why I feel we should practice our "gifts" tonight, so we're ready to take down this freak.'

* * *

In the kitchen, the female chefs are in the process of rinsing their countertop, which is stained red with blood, with a high pressure cleaner when Fien walks in unsuspectingly.

'Hé, I heard Emmet needed to help with the dishes, but no one has actually seen him for the past five hours. Do you have any idea where he might be?' she asks.

'Yes, he was drying a kitchen knife when he accidentally cut his arm. He was bleeding an awful lot, so we called an ambulance, which picked him up. He's at the hospital. He's fine,' the black-haired chef with glasses explains.

'But I didn't hear an ambulance anywhere, let alone see one?'

The female chef gazes deep into Fien's eyes and her own eyes narrow for a moment. 'He cut his arm and went to the hospital.'

'He cut his arm and went to the hospital,' Fien repeats monotonously, after which she blinks and smiles, 'Oh thank goodness, I was getting worried.'

Without a care in the world, she leaves the kitchen behind. The female chefs grin smugly.

* * *

At night when everyone, including Dorien, is asleep, Kim, Nathalie, and Kelly kick into action. Dressed in their colorful, woolly pajamas, they gather in a circle on the floor of their bedroom.

'Okay then. Nathalie, you're up first!' Kelly whispers. Nathalie looks at her pillow and hisses:

'Pillow.' The white fluffy object doesn't move, though. 'Pillow.' Again nothing.

'Maybe you have to point to it? You pointed to that bush too,' Kim offers, whispering.

'Pillow.' This time Nathalie points to it with her index finger and the pillow scatters into tiny, surging, powder blue light orbs and vanishes in a beam of light.

'Where did it go?' Kim asks.

'I don't know.'

'Okay, so that doesn't really work either. What if you kept your arms spread open, so you can catch it?' Kelly suggests. Nathalie looks at her blanket and keeps her arms wide open.

'Blanket.'

Her blanket disintegrates into tiny, powder blue light orbs and reappears in a sea of blue light in her hands. Suddenly, Nathalie is holding her blanket.

'Yey, it worked!' she squeals happily.

'Good job, Nathalie! Okay, now it's my turn. I just need to concentrate.'

Kelly calmly breathes in and out. She peers at the blanket, which Nathalie has placed on the floor in the meantime, and squints her eyes at it, but the comforter won't move an inch.

'Are you trying to stare that blanket to death?' Kim chuckles.

'No. Shush!' Kelly hisses. She keeps staring at the blanket and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, it starts to lift off the ground. The blanket hovers a few inches above the floor and gradually rises. Little by little the blanket climbs up in the air. The further it rises, the higher Kelly has to aim her gaze.

Eventually, the duvet stays suspended in the air above the heads of the three girls, lightly twirling around its axis, while Kelly continues staring at it in concentration. How she keeps this up without any neck pain and without blinking too much remains a mystery to her friends.

Kelly doesn't possess infinite concentration, though. With a sigh her head sags, which causes the blanket to drop at the same time.

'Oh!'

Because of the sudden drop, Kim freaks and stretches her hands. The comforter unwaveringly stays suspended in the air. Motionlessly, the sheet hovers in the air, as if an invisible hand is holding onto the ends.

'Nice reflexes, Kim,' Nathalie nods approvingly.

'Yeah, but that's the point! I'm only able to do this if I'm startled.'

'That's why we're practicing right now. You just need to concentrate, like we did. I think it also has to do with visualization,' Kelly explains.

'Visualization? Since when did you become a self-help guru?'

'Hé, I'm only telling you what I think. And I think you should imagine yourself freezing that sheet and making it move again.'

Kim closes her eyes, sighs, and gently raises her hands. She stretches them while making little circles in the air. As if at the snap of a finger, the sheet drops on top of the girls. They immediately burst out laughing, but they hold their index fingers in front of their mouths while they giggle to keep it quiet in case Dorien wakes up.

* * *

The next morning, the girls are playing another game with their group of classes, Mrs. Hofwegen, and Fien, but this time Nathalie trips and injures her knee. Kelly and Kim immediately rush to her aid. When they reach her, they see her blood ooze from her wound drop by drop. They support her and carry her to the building to receive medical attention.

'This is so typically you to injure yourself during such a simple little game,' Kelly says disappointed.

'At least I'm making an effort to participate. You're just standing there, complaining all the time,' Nathalie fires back.

'Come on now, let's not start this again. We all know damn well that Kelly doesn't like this type of stuff,' Kim tries to keep the peace.

'Fine. Oh, earlier I overheard the most interesting bit of news: apparently they discovered a pillow in the trunk of a tree this morning,' Kelly grins to Nathalie.

'Oh, so that's where that went,' she laughs, but then she feels another jolt of pain in her knee. The girls reach the youth hostel and put Nathalie down on one of the picnic tables in front of the building.

'Kim, you go inside and get some help. I'll stay here with Nathalie.'

Kelly seats herself beside Nathalie and comfortingly rubs her back. Kim, on the other hand, scurries inside and tries to find help, to no avail. Eventually, she tries the kitchen. Without fair warning, she runs into the shining and spacious kitchen, but as soon as she sees what's going on inside, she stops dead in her tracks. After all, the two female chefs are gnawing on Emmet's severed left leg.

When Kim catches them, they gaze at her with big eyes while their hungry, yellowy teeth are still buried in Emmet's flesh. The three of them share a panicky look, after which the chefs put down the bloody teenage leg on the kitchen table. They step from behind the steel table, bare their horrible, rotting teeth, and threateningly advance on Kim. Swiftly, the golden-haired chef grabs a cleaver and hurls it at Kim's head.

'Aah!' the pretty brunette freaks and in a panic freezes the entire room again. The cleaver stays suspended mid-air a few inches away from her stubby nose while the female chefs don't move anymore. _Great, just my luck._

She takes the cleaver from the air and carefully puts it down on the kitchen table. Afterwards, she bolts outside. There, Nathalie and Kelly see her running towards them screaming in terror.

'The chefs! The chefs, they're the monsters! And I think they were eating Emmet!' she screams when she reaches her friends.

'Okay, take it easy. Don't panic! Where are they now?' Kelly tries to calm her down.

'In the kitchen! One of them threw a cleaver at me, so I freaked and froze them,' she pants.

'Umh…I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but I don't think your move stopped them for very long,' Nathalie points to the chefs, who stomp out of the youth hostel growling.

'O no. What now?'

'This. Brick!' Nathalie aims her hand at a loose brick beside the picnic table. The stone scatters into tiny, powder blue light orbs and with a wave of her arm the blonde moves the sea of light towards the chefs. The brick materializes and hits the short- and black-haired chef. In its hurl, it rips away a piece of her facial skin, but that doesn't bother her, because she keeps on walking and growling.

'So, that didn't work,' Nathalie mutters.

'Wait up. This'll stop them,' Kelly squints her eyes and focuses on the female chefs. Suddenly, a picnic table next to theirs shifts and slides over the ground with great velocity towards the demonic women.

Without ever moving an inch, the two female chefs are crushed and squished by the heavy, wooden table. This seems to work, because the cannibalistic chefs bleed to death and breathe their last.

'Wow Kelly, good job! But did you really have to use that table?' Kim asks.

'Umh…I actually wanted to throw them through the glass door behind them, but…umh…this'll do, I think.'

'Oh well, at least it beats throwing a brick,' Nathalie shrugs. This makes Kim and Kelly chuckle and they give Nathalie a pat on the back.

* * *

A little later, the female chefs' lifeless and mutilated bodies are discovered. When the three friends are asked what happened, all three of them reply that they found them like that.

Immediately after, Emmet's severed and gnawed-on body parts are found in the kitchen, as well as the murder weapon and a few organs of at least three more victims. The police decides that there's no doubt the female chefs were the killers and send their bodies, as well as the victims', off to the precinct. The field trip is ended a little earlier and all pupils are picked up by their parents, bike and all.

Even though one of their pupils was murdered, the teachers still feel that their classes have grown closer towards one another thanks to the successful teambuilding. And nothing is closer to the truth, but whether this adds up for every class remains to be seen. It certainly applies to Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim, because nothing brings people closer than a terrible secret.


	4. The Enchanted Ones

Somewhere on a hill surrounded by vast forests lies Magic School. It's a majestic castle with immense towers and magnificent stained-glass windows, which serve as the building's most important light source. Here the next generation of magical creatures are being educated.

Early in the morning, children of all ages appear and make the hallways of the incredible castle brim over with life. The corridors are filled with enthusiastic youths and swiftly the building is swarmed by pupils that take classes at this magical institute.

The bell rings and all students enter their classrooms, but one little boy is too late and wanders around in the academy's endless, decorated hallways. In a panic, he tries to find his way.

 _Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy, where did I have to go again? Through here?_ He gazes through the window of a classroom. _Nope, not here._

He continues to search through the high, vaulted, brick corridors packed with art, but doesn't realize he's being watched and followed. Still, he can't seem to shake a strange oppressing feeling. He looks around for a moment, but sees nor hears anyone and continues running again in search for his classroom. He should have minded his hunch, though.

Across the ceiling, a figure is creeping upside down on hands and feet. From the shadows its icy blue eyes glow like fog lamps on a cold Sunday morning. Its mutilated face lights up blue.

'Se naka hur,' the figure whispers.

 _Why on Earth does this school have so many hallways?_ the lost little boy grumbles. The creature with the icy blue eyes vaults down in a fluent movement and gracefully lands behind the boy. He finally notices that he's not alone and turns around. He sees the monster and screams:

'Aah!'

Growling, the creature attacks and with a gurgled cry, a large smear of blood gushes onto the wall. The blood spatters drip from it, as if the stones were weeping tears of blood.

* * *

At noon everyone's already sitting in the cafeterias of the Saint-Joseph's College, ready to eat, when Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim bolt through the park alley. They're hurrying towards the cafeteria, full speed ahead.

'I hate our Dutch teacher, him and his questions!' Kelly pants.

'Can't he let us go to the cafeteria in peace for once?' Nathalie snorts.

'Yeah. What's he asking from us anyway? Weirdo!' Kim puffs.

The girls are just running past the fairly small castle of the Saint Joseph's College when suddenly, a man appears from a swirling flurry of white sparkles. The tall, broadly shouldered, blond young man is wearing an elaborate, black gown like a lawyer. Though, the young 20-year-old is too attractive to be a lawyer and the smile on his face provides him with an air of innocence.

'Oh, another one of those freaks!' Nathalie points to the young man.

'Ah!' Kim immediately freezes him by stretching her hands.

'My turn!' Kelly squints her eyes and the 20-year-old blond flies back at least 16 feet and ends up in the mud. Kelly's throw nullified Kim's magic, though, and the man is able to move again.

He pushes himself up and faces the girls. He raises his hand and begs them to stop:

'No, please! You don't understand!'

'O yeah? Understand this. Car!' Nathalie points to a car that is parked in front of the castle, waves her arm, and moves the vehicle to the man in a surging sea of light. The car materializes and lands on top of him. The next moment, the young blond man has disappeared.

'We got him!' Kim cheers. Yet then the 20-year-old appears behind the girls panting and clad in clean clothes.

'Stop, please! I need your help!' he begs.

'Our help? For real?' Kelly asks suspiciously.

'Yes, I do,' he nods.

'Why? Who are you?' Nathalie asks.

'My name is Ivan. I'm a wizard and teacher at Magic School,' Ivan introduces himself. He regards them in a friendly way with his begging, brown puppy dog eyes.

'Ivan, eh? How do you know us? I mean, why come to us?' Kim asks.

'Something terrible has happened at Magic School. We need the Enchanted Ones' help!'

'And who are those?' Kelly asks.

'You of course!' he grins broadly, as if they just asked the stupidest question in the world.

'Wow, wow, wow, we've only had these weird abilities for a few weeks. We're definitely not the…' Nathalie has already forgotten the way he called them only a moment ago.

'Enchanted Ones. But you are! Come join me! I'll show you.'

'Do we trust him?' Kim turns to her friends.

'Well, he seems honest. We'll give it a go,' Kelly smiles charmingly at the handsome young man. _Blond, handsome, in his twenties…this could be fun._

'Thank you, a thousand thanks! Come stand a little closer to me,' he gestures to himself.

'If you insist,' Nathalie mumbles, after which she, Kelly, and Kim go stand closer to the blond wizard. Next, the company disappears in a swirling flurry of white sparkles. These sparkles float into the air like a gentle whirlwind towards the majestic castle, Magic School.

* * *

From the swirling flurry of white sparkles, the four youths step into a gigantic entrance hall that can rival with the concourse of Antwerp-Central Station. The floor is checkered with shining, polished marble tiles, laid out in a wonderful mosaic of sandy yellow and Indian red. The walls, when not interrupted by red trusses, are covered by numerous antiques and paintings.

'What's this?' Kim asks.

'This is Magic School, the academy for magical children,' Ivan explains.

'Sort of like Hogwarts?', After a puzzled look from the teacher-wizard, Nathalie quickly realizes he's probably not a Potterhead like her, 'So, what's the emergency?'

'Follow me, but it doesn't look pretty.' _Sounds promising_ , Kelly sighs internally. Ivan leads the girls from the grand entrance hall through a long corridor. There they witness a horrible scene.

The boy that was late this morning is lying on the cold floor, his arms and legs spread wide apart. His chest is ripped open and his clothes are smeared in blood. The wall that he lies underneath is plastered with dried blood. A group of people in black gowns just as Ivan's are gathered around the body.

'O my god!' Kim covers her mouth with her hands and casts her eyes aside.

'I told you it didn't look pretty,' Ivan reminds her.

'But not this horrific!'

'What happened here?' Nathalie asks.

'One of our pupils was found dead here this morning. His heart was torn out.' _The poor kid_ , Kim mourns his life.

Then a peculiar man about fifty to sixty years old with peppery gray hair approaches the four. He wears a similar gown to Ivan's, but moves about the room with a dignified and confident posture that goes hand in hand with authority. He immediately addresses Ivan:

'Ah Ivan, I see you've found the Enchanted Ones!' _Hmm, only three then?_ the older man wonders.

'Yes, they almost tried to kill me!' he chuckles.

'Really? That's unbecoming of such powerful witches.'

'We're still here, you know! And who might you be?' Kelly asks. There's something about the man that doesn't sit right with her.

'I'm Costabor, headmaster of Magic School,' he bows before them, his arms wide open.

'Then another thing, why do you keep calling us "the Enchanted Ones"?' Nathalie asks.

'Don't you know? Ivan, haven't you explained it to them?'

'No, but I was planning to in a minute,' he mutters to the headmaster.

'If you have something to share with us, do tell! We're all ears,' Kim crosses her arms in front of her chest.

'Very well, follow me to my office.' Ivan walks through a couple of halls and leads the girls into a small office.

* * *

Ivan's small office isn't that big of a deal. It's merely your typical dank cubicle with a desk as the most prominent furniture, flanked by a soft, green armchair for its owner and three antique chairs opposite the desk. The desktop is tidy and organized and a large calendar hangs on the wall behind the desk. Oddly enough, there's no personal touch to be found anywhere.

When the girls have entered the office, Ivan seats himself in the soft, green armchair while they awkwardly remain standing up. He offers them the three antique chairs opposite him.

'You better sit down, because what I have to tell you will come as quite a shock.'

The girls sit down and make themselves comfortable on the antique chairs. As soon as he has their attention, Ivan starts to explain:

'You are the Enchanted Ones. It is said that they will become the most powerful witches of all time and that their – your – powers will gradually develop. After what I've seen from you guys, you obviously know that you have certain powers.'

'That's right. It happened after Kim's sixteenth birthday,' Nathalie recalls.

'Yes, but that's not everything,' he breathes in deeply and then continues with a sigh, 'You're sisters.'

'Sisters?' the three girls repeat simultaneously. Baffled, the three stare at him indignantly.

'Actually half-sisters; you have the same father.'

'That can't be! We all have different fathers.'

Kim doesn't buy it for a second. There was something inexplicable about this whole situation, something that verged on the edge of superstition and hysteria. She's so close to her father. _It can't be that the man whom I've called "dad" my whole life is suddenly just a stranger; the husband of my mother, but not my father._

'The men you've considered as your fathers are not your real father. Your biological father is Koen Hellfire, a very powerful and respected wizard.'

'And where might our "father" be?' Kelly snorts. She could care less. The man whom her mother had said had conceived her was already married at the time. He had drunkenly slept with her mother when his wife had been at the hospital. He was a disappointment and hadn't so much as looked at her in her entire life. Nothing changes for her.

'Unfortunately, your father has died recently, just before you came into your powers.'

'Great, we discover that our fathers are not our fathers, but some wizard, and then it turns out he's dead too!' Kim chuckles gloomily. Tears are starting to well up in her eyes.

'How can he be our father, because my mother and Kim's were married at the time and still are?' Nathalie asks.

'And they definitely didn't have an affair!' Kim adds furiously. _Unlike Kelly's father…_

'That's very complicated to explain…' Ivan tries to buy some time to avoid being torn to shreds by the teenage girls, who are now emotionally confused.

'Try us.'

'Your father chose your mothers and slept with them. To ensure that your mothers would definitely get pregnant, he cast a fertility spell.'

'Our mothers would never sleep with a stranger!' Nathalie snaps. _My mother would never lower herself to such a thing. The nerve of this poindexter!_

'As a wizard, he had an ability that allowed him to take any shape or form, even the appearance of your "presumed" fathers. Your mothers would never have noticed.'

'Why didn't he just get married and have children that way? Why did he do it this way?' Kelly asks.

'Your father was getting a bit older and knew that no woman would even consider starting a family with him. He also didn't have the time to work on his private life, so he came up with this plan and executed it. Nine months after conception, you guys came into the world.'

'This comes as such a shock. I need a minute,' Kim mumbles single-mindedly.

Outside of the office, Costabor, headmaster of Magic School, is eavesdropping. Carefully, he tries to take a look through the small window in the door to Ivan's office. _Blasted! How could he have found them? I pray he doesn't lead them to the Enchanted Book_ , the peculiar wizard thinks.

'After he died, your father did leave you a couple things,' Ivan cautiously mentions.

'Really? Did he know we existed?' Nathalie asks cynically.

'Of course, he certainly knew you existed. He left you his house and everything in it.'

'A house? Are you serious?' Kelly asks baffled. _At least something good about the man._ It would be a vast improvement from her apartment in the less fortunate neighborhoods of Antwerp.

'Yes, I can take you there if you like.' _No, then they will soon find the Enchanted Book!_ Costabor fears the worst outside in the hall.

'Shall we?' Ivan asks.

'It's not like we have much of a choice,' Kim sighs. In a swirling flurry of white sparkles, Ivan disappears with the girls. Costabor curses the four internally. _Why did that naïve kid have to go and find Koen Hellfire's daughters? Oh well, at least my master's plan to lure the Enchanted Ones worked. Now all we have to do is get our hands on the Enchanted Book…_

* * *

Ivan takes Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim to the entryway of a rustic belle époque house in Zurenborg. This late-nineteenth-century neighborhood was raised by the rich Antwerp bourgeoisie, which wanted to separate itself from the common folk and which turned Zurenborg into one of the most architecturally magnificent Antwerp neighborhoods thanks to its enormous wealth. Just like at Magic School, you can just feel the class and grandeur invading your senses in the richly decorated entryway of the pearly white house.

'M'kay, pretty well-decorated.' Nathalie doesn't appear to be impressed by the belle époque house, but deep inside she's blown away by her inheritance. _Our father lived_ here _?_

'We left everything the way it was when he died,' Ivan reassures them. _It would have been a disgrace to remove the many pieces of antique furniture. Besides, it would have sullied Koen Hellfire's memory._

'How did he actually die? Our father, I mean?' Kelly asks, a little bit curious after all.

'He passed away peacefully in his sleep,' Ivan bites his lip as if he's hiding something important, but the three girls are too overwhelmed by the gorgeous interior to notice.

'What's going to happen to this place?' Nathalie asks.

'In your father's will, it said that you could live here for as long as you want.'

'And how does he think we'll be able to afford that?' Kim purses her lips. _I can imagine that an old house like this involves considerable costs._

'He used all his money to pay all the bills for the coming five years. You won't have to spend a dime any time soon.'

'He sure planned ahead,' Kelly mumbles. _Even though he left us an entire house, it's still no excuse for what he did._

'Before I forget, there's an incredibly powerful book in the attic.'

'A book?' Nathalie curiously turns to the blond teacher-wizard.

'Not just any book: the Enchanted Book! You could compare it to an encyclopedia of nearly all magical creatures. By the way, your powers are directly linked to it.'

'I wouldn't mind seeing that book,' Kim nods. _Maybe it holds something that could solve this entire mess or make it all disappear?_

'Go on up to the attic; that's where it is. Up the stairs, to the end of the hallway and up the next flight of stairs.'

The curiosity is killing the girls and the three of them run up the stairs that start at the end of the entryway. Those stairs then curve left, up towards the second floor. There the girls turn left, bolt through the hallway, and climb the last flight of stairs.

All the way at the top of the stairs, a thick, dusty, wooden door awaits them. The girls can't put their finger on it, but there's something mystical and powerful emanating from that simple, wooden door. The colossus suddenly swings open and lets them have a look at the large, spacious, dusty attic filled with cardboard boxes.

Dead center of the room lies an enormous, round, charcoal-colored, plush carpet wherein an orange pentagram has been embroidered. On the left side of the attic stands a small coffee table near an old, musky couch. Behind the pentagram carpet, which is bordered by an edge of Berber carpet, a thick, slate blue book lies all alone on its stand in front of a large red, dull yellow, and green stained-glass window.

Hand in hand, Kelly, Kim, and Nathalie walk into the attic, across the pentagram rug, up to the book stand. Cautiously, they shuffle past the stained-glass window, so they're directly facing the book. The mystic power they felt from behind the door seems to be coming from this book, the Enchanted Book. It's as if it's calling to them.

The Enchanted Book is a large, thick book with a hard, dark slate blue cover. On the cover, there's a pentacle the color of honeydew melon. The figure's five points barely touch the silver circle around it and are slightly darker than the rest of the pentacle, more grayish green. Angular, green flowers that fan out in purple tendrils are depicted in the planes between the sides of the pentagram.

In each corner of the cover, there's a woven, honeydew melon-colored flower (so four total) in a small circle, which is connected to the pentacle's larger circle. This silver circle is engraved with strange runes. Springy, dark slate blue lines fill in the remaining space of the cover.

'Wow, that's a big book!' Nathalie whistles out of amazement before she blows the dust from the book cover.

'Look, there's a pentagram on the cover!' Kelly fingers the lavishly decorated figure.

'No, that's a pentacle,' Ivan corrects her. The girls look up from their magic inheritance and to their surprise see the 20-year-old blond step into the attic. 'While the pentagram symbolizes the five metaphysical elements, the pentacle represents eternity, totality, and unity, like your close friendship and your bond to the Enchanted Book. It's a very useful book, but since it's so powerful, many try to get their hands on it.'

'Is it really that powerful?' Kim asks.

'Yes, it holds a great deal of spells and contains many secrets that can only be found in your book. Luckily, evil is unable to touch it.'

'How do you mean?' Nathalie asks confused.

'I honestly don't know myself. I'm only passing on what I've been told.'

'You said you needed our help, right?' Kelly, who has made a decision, asks.

'I did.'

'Well, I think we may help you after all.'

'Really? You're serious?' the teacher-wizard grins broadly.

'Yes,' Nathalie, who's also convinced about their calling, nods, 'we'll help you.'

'Do you actually have any idea who attacked that boy?' Kim asks.

'No, some kind of beast. That's why we're asking you for help.'

'Tonight we'll patrol the halls of your school,' Kelly decides.

'If there's a beast hiding there, we'll find it,' Nathalie assures the young wizard.

'Thanks a million, Enchanted Ones!' Ivan warmly hugs the three while they awkwardly give him a pat on the back.

* * *

In the middle of the night, Magic School is completely deserted. Only Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim are strolling through the castle's halls. They're discussing their tactics in the large entrance hall, the intersection of four corridors.

'So the plan's clear?' Kelly asks once more to be sure.

'Yeah, if we see or hear anything suspicious, we radio each other using the walkie-talkies and go to each other,' Kim repeats the plan. The two other girls nod affirmatively, after which they each go their own way. Nathalie is going to cover the western corridor, Kelly the northern one, and Kim the eastern one. After a while, they're already deep into the school's maze of halls, but they haven't found the creature yet.

'Still no trace here. Over!' Kim reports through the walkie-talkie.

'Nothing here too. Over!' Nathalie reports in turn.

'Ditto. Not a…', suddenly Kelly hears something, 'Okay, there is something here after all. Over!'

From the high, vaulted ceiling, glowing, icy blue eyes look on and follow Kelly's movements closely. The scary deserted corridor gives Kelly the creeps.

'Kelly, calm down! Where are you? Over!' Kim asks. The ginger-haired girl looks at the door she's standing in front of.

'Room 154. Over!'

'Stay where you are! I'll be right there. Over and out!' Nathalie says. All of a sudden, she orbs to Kelly and appears next to her in a shining sea of small, powder blue light orbs. Kelly is startled by her sudden appearance.

'Aah! Don't ever do that again!' she shouts aghast.

'Relax, sis!' Nathalie teases her.

'I'll be there too in a few minutes. Don't move; I'll be right there! Over and out!' Kim reports.

'Okay, let's just stand here and then nothing will happen to us,' Kelly bites her lip out of fear and nervously taps the heel of her shoe on the marble floor. Then the following rings through the corridor:

'Putes ni ak.'

'What was that?' Nathalie asks frightened.

'I don't know and I don't want to know,' Kelly growls, angry and afraid.

The beast with the mutilated face and the icy blue eyes continues climbing across the ceiling towards the two girls and vaults down. It lands softly behind them and raises itself up with a devilish grin on its mutilated face, lit up by its eyes that burn like small, icy blue pilot lights.

'Pira he,' it snickers.

'Don't tell me the thing, whatever it is, is standing behind us,' Nathalie squeals in terror. The two young witches turn around and jump out of their skin:

'Aah!'

'Rhaa!' the beast roars while spreading its long claws.

'Do something!' Nathalie yells. Kelly squints her eyes and the creature flies against the wall next to them.

'What now?'

'Run?'

'Run!'

They bolt off as fast as possible, but the beast is back on its feet. It's also much faster and quickly catches up with them.

'Pira he!'

It wants to slash at them with its long claws, but Nathalie points to a painting on the wall and moves it towards the beast in a beam of small, surging, powder blue light orbs. When the piece of art takes back its original form, the frame snaps to pieces and the creature's head tears the canvas to smithereens. Because of the blow, the beast hits the floor hard.

'Oh, where's Kim?' Kelly heaves. The creature gets back up again and lunges towards them with the predatory elegance of a jaguar.

'Aah!' Nathalie and Kelly scream, but right then Kim arrives. She comes hurrying from a corridor to their right.

'Oh no, you won't!' she stretches her hands, which freezes the beast. It hangs motionlessly in the air, a murderous grimace on its mutilated face. Overjoyed, Kelly and Nathalie run to their friend (and sister).

'Is this the killer?' she asks.

'No idea and I don't want to find out either,' Kelly pants. At that moment, the beast moves again. It completes its jump and lands flat on its face on the marble floor. It staggers to its feet again and whirls around to the three sisters.

'Rrrr!' it growls.

'I hate it already. Knight!' Nathalie points to the stone statue of a knight behind and to the side of the creature. She waves her arm and orbs the statue to right behind the creature in a beam of small, powder blue light orbs. Next, Kelly squints her eyes. The beast flies backwards and gets impaled by the stone knight's sword.

'Aah!' the creature shrieks.

'That'll teach it,' Kim nods approvingly. Yet the beast pushes itself off of the stone statue and its gaping wound heals all on its own. 'How's that possible?' Kim panics.

'It must be able to regenerate itself,' Kelly guesses. The creature prepares to attack them again.

'We're out! Home!' Nathalie grabs her friends by their hands and orbs away with them in a powder blue beam of small, surging light orbs. So, the beast only delivers a blow to thin air.

* * *

The three young witches, on the other hand, end up at their biological father's place. Nathalie orbed them right into the entryway.

'Phiew, am I glad to be out of there!' Kelly sighs, relieved.

Nathalie looks about. 'This isn't the home I meant, but it'll do. For now.'

'Where are the bedrooms actually?'

While the others stayed in the entryway, Kim snuck up to the second floor. There she halts in front of the first door she comes across. She opens it and sees a large canopy bed in the middle of a mostly empty room.

'The bedrooms are upstairs!' she shouts to the first floor. Nathalie and Kelly run upstairs and enter the room Kim's standing in.

'Wow, what a huge bed,' Nathalie admires the canopy bed.

Kim yawns. 'I'm so tired. I don't care anymore where I go to sleep.'

'Let's all just sleep in this room. The bed's big enough anyway,' Kelly proposes.

'Yeah, let's. I'm way too scared now anyway to sleep alone,' Nathalie shudders at the memory alone. _Almost getting my throat slit by a demonic beast is not high up on my list of priorities._

The three girls get ready for the night as they put on some night gowns they found in a walk-in closet. Together they lie down underneath the thick, soft sheets in the large canopy bed.

'Sleep tight, little sisters!' Kelly chuckles. _I still can't believe my best friends are my half-sisters._

'So weird. Up until today I was an only child and now I have two sisters. Sleep tight!' Kim yawns.

'You'll get used to it,' Nathalie mumbles, already halfway to dreamland. Her half-sisters aren't that new of an experience to her. By both her parents (even the father who isn't really her father) she each has half-brothers from a previous marriage. She didn't even know her third half-brother existed, until she was invited to his wedding at the age of eleven.

* * *

While the three Enchanted sisters are falling asleep, someone else…something else is very busy. Deep in the bowls of Magic School, the creature with the mutilated face and the glowing, icy blue eyes is working on some sort of ritual. The beast squats near a bloody, torn out heart.

'Hoe na seka re!' it sprinkles some powder over the "stolen" heart. 'Ghi ha ler.'

It picks up the heart and holds it in front of its chest. The heart starts to hover and slowly slides to the creature's chest. When the heart touches its chest, its skin folds over it and the heart sinks deeper into its body until it's absorbed and has disappeared completely.

Suddenly, Costabor appears. 'Do you really need to do those things?' he turns up his nose at the ritual.

'Zoe! Ab mai re kloef eng res re bunt,' the beast explains in its strange language.

'Yes, yes, I know. If you don't steal a heart, yours rots away completely and you die. Anyhow, you wouldn't happen to have run into a couple of girls tonight?'

'Zoe! Ilr mai kloef,' it weeps.

'Did they hurt you? Well, get a grip! You're able to heal your own wounds, so why are you blubbering?'

'Ilr seck un ferls ing mai re.'

'They impaled you with a stone sword? Then you should've killed them!'

'Ilr zun putes.'

'So? They're witches, alright. That never stopped you from killing them before.'

'Ilr haks ber. Ilr zun berst!' the beast spits on the ground.

'They? Powerful? They're new to the craft! You'll kill them in no time.'

'Zoe. Meh oel zun mai yel?'

'You want another victim? Here!' Costabor waves his arm and a short, innocent girl of at most 12 years old suddenly appears from the floor.

'Mister Costabor, why did I have to meet you here?' she asks, unfazed. _She has no idea what she has got coming. Kids these days are so naïve_ , Costabor sighs.

'Have fun!' the headmaster chuckles, after which he disappears in a twirling flurry of white sparkles. The beast stands up and attacks the girl. She shrieks when it shreds her to pieces:

'Aaaaaah!'

It immediately slits her throat with its long claws. She bleeds to death and drops to the cold, marble surface.

* * *

The morning after, Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim peacefully wake up in their father's canopy bed in his house. Yawning, Kim stretches her arms.

'I had the weirdest dream. We were wandering through the halls of some castle and suddenly, we were attacked by a beast.'

'That was last night and a true story,' Kelly says sleepily.

'Oh, awful,' Kim hangs her head. The three girls get dressed and then walk down the stairs to the first floor. At this moment, Ivan teleports into the entryway in a twirling flurry of white sparkles.

'Another pupil was attacked last night,' he reports with a deadpan expression.

'What? No, we stayed there until the middle of the night and we ran into that beast. It wouldn't have felt up to attacking anyone anymore after dealing with us,' Kelly assures him of their efforts.

'Well, a girl was still attacked and killed.'

'Really? Hold on, we'll come with you.'

* * *

Shortly after, Ivan has brought the three sisters to the place in Magic School where the creature attacked the girl. Further down the hall, they see her bloody and torn up body.

'Oh God, no!' Kim lifts a fist to her mouth to counter her queasiness.

'Who would do such a thing?' Nathalie asks, appalled.

'That's why we asked you for help. You saw it last night, didn't you?' Ivan asks.

'Yeah, it had icy blue eyes, a mutilated face, and very long claws,' Kelly describes the creature.

'Ring any bells?' Nathalie asks.

'There's nothing that really springs to mind, but…'

'Her heart seems to be ripped out too,' Kim notices. 'Why would anyone do that?'

'I don't know,' the blond wizard shrugs. 'Maybe to eat it? Can't you guys look this up in the Enchanted Book?'

'Oh yeah, that's a possibility,' Nathalie smiles.

'Well, then we need to head back home,' Kelly says.

'To the attic!' Kim spurs Nathalie on. The latter takes the brunette and Kelly by the hand and orbs them to the attic of their father's house in a beam of small, powder blue light orbs. Costabor, who also stood by the girl's body, suddenly creeps up to Ivan.

'Do the Enchanted Ones know who did it?' he asks curiously.

'No, but they went to look it up in the Enchanted Book. It won't be much longer now.'

Unsuspectingly, Ivan heads to his office while Costabor gets cracking. _Cursed, now I'll never be able to get my hands on the Enchanted Book! Okay, calm down, Costabor. Everything might not be lost after all._

* * *

In the attic of their father's house, the three young sister witches are standing behind the Enchanted Book's book stand. They've opened up the big book of spells and are flipping pages in search of the creature. Kim flips a certain page of the Enchanted Book.

'What a coincidence! If that isn't our old friend!'

'What? What do you see?' Kelly asks.

'Look for yourself!' Kim points to the page. A clear drawing of a man with a pentagram tattoo is visible on the yellowed sheet of paper.

'Well, I'll be damned: the Wiccatin!' Nathalie chuckles. She flips another few pages in the big book, 'Vampire, werewolf, UFO, _Paramecium_ …'

'There! Icy blue eyes!' Kim points to a page with another characteristic illustration.

'What does it say?' Kelly asks.

'According to this book, we're dealing with a Warlock, also known as Evil Wizard. Before it changed into a demon, a Warlock was a regular wizard, but since it made a pact with the Devil, it changed into a beast with icy blue eyes, a mutilated face, and long, nasty claws.'

'Yup, that sounds like our guy,' Nathalie nods affirmatively.

'What else does it say?' Kelly asks.

'Because of the fact that a Warlock made a pact with the Devil, the Warlock is a malevolent demon. It's so evil its wickedness causes its heart to rot away. That's why it kills its victims and cuts out their heart.'

'If it hadn't made a pact with the Devil in the first place, it wouldn't have had that problem,' Nathalie remarks coolly.

'To ensure that it can absorb the heart, it performs a ritual that it needs to repeat every night because every day its heart rots away. So, it also needs to steal a different heart every day.'

'Does it also say anything on how to take out a Warlock?' Kelly asks.

'Yeah, there's some kind of vanquishing spell. I'll read it to you:

To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,  
or it will drag you straight to hell.'

'We just have to say this spell and it's gone?'

'Apparently yes.'

'Does this mean we have to wander around those castle halls again tonight?' Nathalie pouts. _One night in that scary castle was bad enough._

'I don't think we have much of a choice,' Kelly says.

'So much for my dinner plans,' Kim sighs.

* * *

Late at night, Kim, Nathalie, and Kelly are patrolling the corridors of Magic School together. In the meantime, they keep their eyes wide open and pay attention to strange noises.

'Great idea for us to stick together, Kim,' Nathalie compliments her.

'Oh well, if we're attacked, it's better if we're with the three of us.'

'Yeah, we already struggled so much last time,' Kelly chuckles. The girls laugh and start to drag up stories to lighten the tension, which only causes more laughter. The Warlock, on the other hand, is performing another absorption ritual when it hears the Enchanted Ones laughing.

'Putes zun ei,' it smirks, its icy blue eyes glowing brightly. It crawls onto the walls and localizes the witches by tracking down their laughter.

'Hé, do you remember that one time when Teun fell on his ass during that climb?' Kim chuckles.

'Oh yeah, his pants looked totally brown! Everyone thought he'd crapped his pants,' Nathalie roars with laughter.

'And then Mrs. Hofwegen told him he had nothing to be ashamed of! "Accidents happen," she said,' Kelly laughs.

'Hahaha!' the Warlock joins in from the ceiling above the girls.

'Did you guys hear that too?' Kelly stiffens. Suddenly, the Warlock lunges towards them from the ceiling.

'There!' Kim stretches her hands, freezing the creature. It stays suspended in the air right above their heads.

'Let's just move away a bit,' Nathalie suggests. They reposition themselves a couple of feet and then Kim's magic runs out. The Warlock continues lunging and it smacks its face right against a wall.

'Ou-ouch!' it blubbers.

'Ha, serves you right! Spear!' Nathalie points to a spear on a wall and waves her arm towards the Warlock. The spear lights up powder blue, splits into small, shining and surging light orbs, and flies to the creature in a powder blue stream. When the elongated weapon sticks together again, it pierces through the demon. Next, Nathalie braces herself to cast the spell.

'I hope this spell works.

To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,

or it will drag you straight to hell.'

'Aah!' The Warlock's arms catch fire, but quickly die down again.

'It's not working!' Nathalie panics.

'Let me try!', Kim freezes the demon once again with her hands stretched and casts the spell,

'To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,

or it will drag you straight to hell.'

'Rhaa!' Now its torso catches fire, but that dies down as well. Next, the creature pulls the spear from its body and furiously lunges at the girls.

'In your dreams!', Kelly squints her eyes and the Warlock flies back against the wall, 'I'll show you guys how it's done.

To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,  
or it will drag you straight to hell.'

'Aah!' This time only its legs catch fire, but again they die down. Because of the cruel torture, which is nothing more than trial-and-error in the young witches' minds, the beast is boiling with rage. 'Rhaaa!'

'Oh, shut up!' Kim freezes it again by stretching both her hands.

'It catches fire every time, but never all the way. What now?' Nathalie asks.

'What if all three of us cast the spell simultaneously?'

'Arms, torso, and legs, that should do it,' Kelly nods.

'Brace yourselves!' Kim warns them as she stretches her hands again whilst making little circles in the air. This allows the Warlock to move again. At once, the sisters cast the spell with the three of them:

'To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,

or it will drag you straight to hell.'

Now the Warlock catches fire completely, but it's partially dying down again. 'It's still not working!' Nathalie shouts.

'I think we need to keep repeating it,' Kim offers. The two other girls nod and the three of them grab each other's hands to draw strength from one another. Together they repeat the spell:

'To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,

or it will drag you straight to hell.

To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell,

or it will drag you straight to hell.

To defeat the Warlock, you have to cast this spell…'

The Warlock catches fire again completely and keeps burning this time around. The fire flares up massively while the demon's screams intensify, until the creature suddenly explodes and disappears, flame and all.

'We did it!' Kelly cheers.

'Awesome,' Nathalie grins.

'Can we finally go home now? I don't want to stay here another minute,' Kim folds her arms across her chest. _This place just gives me the creeps._

* * *

The next morning, Nathalie, Kelly, and Kim orb back to Magic School. They appear in Ivan's office.

'So, Enchanted Ones, did it work?' the young teacher-wizard asks.

'Ivan, please stop calling us the Enchanted Ones,' Kelly rolls her eyes. _As far as I'm concerned, this blond hunk can address me by my name. Who knows what else?_

'How would you like me to call you then?'

'Simply call us by our names,' Nathalie nods smiling.

'It's a bit weird to continuously be called the Enchanted Ones,' Kim winks. _That's a title I'm not yet ready for. And that I won't get used to so quickly either._

'Fine, but did it work? Is the beast gone?' the 20-year-old magician presses on.

'Yes, the Warlock that attacked the pupils is gone,' Kelly confirms.

'Kaboom, poof!' Nathalie adds nodding. Then Costabor enters Ivan's office. He's surprised to see the three young witches, alive and well.

'Well Enchanted Ones, you look unscathed. Were you able to defeat the creature?' he asks. After all, he hasn't heard from his accomplice since last night.

'Yup, it's gone and won't be bothering you again,' Nathalie nods yet again.

'Ah, that's good. I'll be off then.' _I seem to have underestimated them. Perhaps there is some truth to that prophecy?_ Without further dawdling, Costabor scurries from the office again.

'Is he always this weird?' Kelly raises an eyebrow. _Maybe all these wizards have that in common?_

'He has his moments, but I can't thank you enough for all your help,' Ivan thanks them.

'It was nothing. We'd do it again in a heartbeat,' Nathalie smiles.

'Now that you mention it, we have had this problem for a while…'

'You just had to go and say that,' Kim mutters. She glares at Nathalie, who in turn shrugs out of remorse.

'You know, Ivan, we were thinking of moving our stuff into our father's house,' Kelly says. _It's a waste to let a gorgeous house like that stay vacant._

'Really? You want to live in his house?' Ivan grins broadly.

'It's not so much that we want to live in his house, but that we'd like a place for ourselves as sisters. You understand?' Nathalie winks.

'You know, your father would've been so proud of you guys.'

'Isn't every father?' Kim giggles.

'If you want, I could help you move your stuff.'

'Oh, that won't be necessary, Ivan. We can handle it perfectly by ourselves. Thanks anyway,' Nathalie thanks him for the offer.

'Good. I'll see you around then.'

'Of course, you can always come by our place,' Kelly smiles charmingly, briefly flashing her braces. _Perhaps you can even stay the night._

The four of them say goodbye and Nathalie orbs home with her two sisters in a twinkling sea of small, powder blue light orbs. _Those are really some special girls_ , Ivan thinks.


	5. The Innocents Project

In the night shop of a self-employed store owner, the last costumers of the evening are checking out, but not every customer is that honest. Hidden behind a few shelves, a 17-year-old Moroccan boy is stuffing bags of chips and cans of coke in his jacket pocket when he thinks the cashier and store owner isn't looking. The teenager is wearing a soccer cap and scarf of Club Brugge (a Belgian first class soccer club), blue Adidas sweatpants and sweatshirt with horizontal white stripes, and white Nike running shoes.

Just when the young Moroccan is convinced he can get away with his loot, the proprietor, a white-haired man of 60 who runs the shop by himself, stops him and zips open the kid's jacket. He removes the chips and cans from the boy's pockets and immediately, the teenager starts ranting in denial:

'Sir, I swear, I have no idea how those got there! Really, I...'

'Son, how stupid do you think I am?' the sixty-year-old looks at the boy funnily. He may not be the youngest anymore, but when it comes to shoplifters, the store owner still has an eagle's eye.

'But sir, I really didn't want to do that. A bunch of older guys challenged me. What else was I supposed to do?'

'What you should have done was turn your back on them. You shouldn't let yourself be provoked or intimidated. And if they want chips and coke, they're just going to have to come and get it themselves. Understood?'

'Yes, sir,' the teenager mopes. 'What are you going to do now?'

'I'm just going to warn you. That's all I can do. You need to decide for yourself what your next move is going to be: are you going to keep stealing or are you going to take my advice?'

The proprietor's speech has made the Moroccan boy and the other customers speechless. The kid doesn't even dare to look at the store owner anymore. The proprietor isn't just an excellent store owner, but also a wise and experienced man.

'The next time I will have to alert the police, but I'm hoping there won't be a next time. Alright?'

The teenager nods and leaves the night shop like a dog with its tail between its legs. When he exits, he passes a peculiar man in the doorway. The man is wearing a long, black coat that is held together by a long row of buttons. His head is shaven, with just a shadow of stubbles across his scalp. He's wearing a black eye patch over his left eye.

Once he's in the night shop, he stretches his arm and in his hand appears a 9mm-rifle in an orange flash like that of a retractable Agfa camera from the 40s. Immediately, he shoots the three waiting customers by the register and before the proprietor can do anything, the demonic man shoots him twice in the chest.

The Moroccan boy of 17 hears the gun shots and bolts back inside the night shop. Once inside he sees the gunned down bodies and the shooter grinning at the scene. As soon as he notices Mohammed, he disappears again in an orange flash like the flashing of a retractable Agfa camera from the 40s. The Moroccan teenager, on the other hand, watches the four deceased innocents in shock with a fixed expression.

* * *

A week later, Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim are unloading heavy boxes from a moving van. The moving van is parked in front of their biological father's stylish house in the Zurenborg neighborhood and the girls are carrying the unloaded boxes inside of that same belle époque house.

'How many of these boxes are there left?' Kelly whines. She picks up a full cardboard box labeled "Kim's shoes".

'A whole lot of them,' Nathalie picks one up labeled "Nathalie's clothes". _What did we expect? For once in her life, Kelly has to do heavy lifting and it can't be over soon enough._ Together the sisters climb the paved steps leading up to the rustic house.

'Can't we take a break? My back's starting to hurt.'

'So does mine.' Nathalie shoves Kelly, so she's at least moving along. Irritated, the ginger girl bumps the front door open with her behind, so she and Nathalie can enter.

'Kim, you're supposed to leave the door open! Otherwise we'll get in trouble with these boxes!' Nathalie shouts when she steps inside.

'Sorry, I keep forgetting that there are more boxes to come,' Kim comes skipping down the stairs. _Oh, who would expect a beauty queen to remember such a thing?_ Nathalie sighs.

'Well, at least take this box. It's so heavy,' Kelly hands Kim the box "Kim's shoes". The brunette involuntarily topples over because of the sudden weight.

'That one is heavy. What's in it?' She tries to read what's written on it, but if she moves too much, she threatens to lose her balance.

'Your shoes,' Nathalie grins.

'Oh, that explains everything.' Agilely, she shakes her head to get rid of a few strands of her long hair from her face, after which she climbs the wooden stairs at the end of the entryway with the box of shoes in her arms.

'Here, why don't you take this box upstairs?' Nathalie pushes the box she's carrying into Kelly's arms and whirls around, so she can go outside.

'Hé, can't you take this one upstairs yourself?' Kelly calls after her.

'It's only clothes. They barely weigh anything. You can get that upstairs, can't you?'

'But my back...'

'Maybe you should move more and whine less, then you'll be rid of your back pains much quicker,' the blonde winks. 'Go, skedaddle!'

With a grimace and stomping her feet, Kelly trudges up the stairs in pursuit of Kim. With a big sigh, Nathalie strolls back outside to pick up another box.

* * *

In Kim's bedroom, the pretty brunette is just unpacking and arranging all her incredibly expensive and shining shoes in her walk-in closet. Suddenly, Ivan orbs into her room in a swirling flurry of white sparkles. Looking down on her back, he greet her:

'Hey!'

Kim jumps out of her skin because of the sudden voice and drops on top of her shoes in a flash. From a mess of long brown hair and expensive stiletto heels, she looks up to the blond wizard. 'Oh Ivan, it's you? Please, don't ever do that again!'

'Oh sorry, I probably shouldn't have orbed in unannounced.'

'You think?', she pulls herself up and smoothens her shirt, 'Why are you here actually? Trouble at Magic School?'

'No, no. Why do you think I only visit you guys if there's trouble?', after a cynically raised eyebrow from Kim, Ivan caves in, 'Okay, there might be a problem.'

'No, you don't say? Come on, I'll take you to the others.'

The two of them leave Kim's horizon blue room and the long-haired beauty leads Ivan down the stairs to the entryway, where Kelly is just accepting another box from Nathalie. The short witch with a soft spot for slightly older, blond men notices the handsome teacher-wizard at once.

'Oh Ivan!' Surprised and excited, she lets go of the box, which then drops hard onto Nathalie's left foot.

'Auw, Kelly!'

'Oh sorry. Are you okay?'

'No, auw, my foot,' she hops and limps to the living room through the portal near the entryway. The others follow Nathalie. She settles in on a long, covered, white couch placed against a wall on the left. She puts her foot down on a small wooden coffee table that stands in front of the couch.

'Do you want me to get you a bag of ice?' Kim asks.

'That would help,' she massages her foot. The brunette leaves the living room again through the portal and Kelly apologetically seats herself beside Nathalie on the couch. Ivan keeps standing upright with his arms folded across.

'I'm so sorry. Is there anything I can do for you?' Kelly asks.

'You've done enough already!'

Next, Kim walks back in with a bag of ice. Nathalie takes it and places it on her foot. Afterwards, she targets Ivan.

'And you! What are you doing here?'

'Me?' the teacher-wizard points to himself.

'No, the other wizard behind you. Of course you!'

'Well, I was supposed to show you something. Do you guys have a TV?'

'Yeah, over there, behind you,' Kelly points to the flat screen plasma TV placed on an oak-wood, medium size cabinet behind Ivan. 'It was the first thing we brought inside because it was so heavy.'

The blond 20-year-old turns around and grabs the remote. Meanwhile, Kim sits down on Nathalie's other side on the couch.

'Who told you to show that to us actually?' Kim asks curiously.

'My bosses.' He turns on the TV and walks back to the couch.

'And who are your bosses?' Nathalie asks.

'Do you really want to know?'

'Hmm, never mind.' _The less I know, the better._ Ivan turns up the volume and pictures starts to take form on the TV. An anchorman does his spiel:

'Today, the trial of Mohammed Al-Hamani starts in Antwerp. The Moroccan minor shocked all of Flanders last week when he suddenly robbed a local grocery store.'

On screen, the 17-year-old boy is pulled from a police vehicle and surrounded by policemen and cameras, he is escorted into the justice building. The anchorman comes back in frame.

'Al-Hamani is accused of murdering four people: three customers that were still in the night shop at the time of the robbery and the store owner himself. Last Monday, Al-Hamani stormed the store at 10 PM and shot everyone present.'

'And why are you showing us this?' Kim raises an eyebrow. Ivan turns off the TV and looks at the girls.

'Because you need to rescue him,' he replies as cool as a cucumber.

'I thought we only had to make those demon things go...you know...kaboum,' Nathalie frowns.

'Well, that's a side effect of your actual duty. As Enchanted Ones, it's your destiny to save and protect every innocent that crosses your path against evil.'

Kelly is confused as well. 'But he's not innocent. He killed four people. We just heard that, didn't we?'

'And yet he's innocent. He was framed by a demon. There's your side effect.'

'But...what would a demon want from him? What do demons want from people anyway? Can't they just leave us alone?' Kim shrugs with her hands held out. _Kind of illogical of a creature with supernatural powers to want to have anything to deal with humans._

'If they did that then they wouldn't be evil, now would they?' Ivan chuckles. 'Listen, Mohammed is destined to do great things and Magic School wants to guide him. The demons want to prevent that.'

'And they had to kill four people to do it? Can't they just..."take him out"? That would solve all their problems at once.'

'No, they want him intact, because the same talent he'll use for good he...'

'...can use for evil too. Right, I get it,' Kelly now realizes what kind of world they ended up in. _Nothing makes sense, yet everything is so explicable._

'How are we actually supposed to rescue him, because you keep telling us it's our destiny, but you're not really suggesting a strategy?' Nathalie wonders. _It's not like we can just kidnap him during his trial?_

'I was hoping you would have an idea,' the wizard sheepishly scratches his hair.

'What? Great! You're sending _us_ on dangerous missions, but you don't lift a finger yourself. Who do you think we are? Charlie's witches?'

'Come on, calm down people. Ivan's just doing his job,' Kelly gazes up at the handsome wizard. 'I'm sure we can figure something out.' _Ivan might have the looks, but he sure doesn't have the brains when it comes to initiative._

'Who made you the leader?' Kim places her hands on her hips. 'I'm not going to risk my neck for a juvenile delinquent, you know.' _Pretty people like me never survive in prison._

'But Ivan said he wasn't a criminal! And I'm taking charge because an innocent person might get wrongly convicted if I don't. And as Ivan already said, it's our destiny as Enchanted Ones to save every innocent.'

'And since when do you sacrifice yourself for Moroccans? I seem to recall that you vote for N-VA because Vlaams Belang will probably never get elected,' Nathalie points out Kelly's hypocrisy, seeing as the redhead makes no secret about having little to no sympathy for immigrants. You see, the N-VA is a Flemish nationalist and right-wing party, but is incredibly popular despite everything. Vlaams Belang, on the other hand, is also a Flemish nationalist party, but extremely conservative and oftentimes blatantly racist, and hardly gets any votes.

'We received our powers for a reason and we've just been told that reason,' the ultra-right-wing witch tries to change the subject. 'So, I'm going to help that boy, Moroccan or not, with or without you guys' help!'

Abruptly, Kelly gets up and storms towards the entryway to grab her coat. A couple seconds later the front door bangs shut behind her. Nathalie and Kim are left alone with Ivan. Rocking back and forward on his heels, he watches them and smirks.

'Alright, alright, we're leaving!' Nathalie grumbles. She limps as she gets up and supported by Kim, she hobbles in pursuit of Kelly.

* * *

A little later, the three girls enter the palace of justice of Antwerp, the city's courthouse. There's quite a commotion in and around the building because of Mohammed Al-Hamani's presence. From the spacious, open entrance hall, also known as the Salle des Pas Perdus, the teenage girls can see throngs of reporters pressing against the glass walls and being kept at a distance by a small army of police officers.

'Gosh, it's crowded,' Kim remarks.

'What did you expect? The media have dived into this case like a flock of vultures,' Nathalie is still limping when the sisters cross the parquet floor to the reception desk.

'Come on! That foot can't possibly still be hurting,' Kelly grumbles. _That box wasn't that heavy, now was it?_

'Yes, it can! Why did you actually drop that box all of a sudden? It was just Ivan.'

While the three girls are waiting in line at the reception desk, they admire the palace of justice, a magnificent structure of steel, wood, and glass. Through skylights of white steel and glass, light cascades into the enormous entrance hall from above. Diagonally below the skylights are the courtrooms that are reminiscent of the Sydney Opera House from the outside, but on the inside they consist of a wooden honeycomb structure. Thanks to immensely broad, wooden stairs, you can reach every corner of the palace of justice.

'It was just Ivan? Hé, it...he...I...well...come on, it was Ivan!'

'That's right. It was Ivan, not some divine presence.'

'Maybe just Ivan to you, but to Kelly, he probably looks like a divine presence,' Kim chuckles. _Isn't it obvious why Kelly reacted like that?_

'What's that supposed to mean?' the love-struck witch panics. _Is it that obvious?_ Meanwhile, the queue in front of them is dwindling and it isn't long before it's the sisters' turn.

'Good afternoon. How can I be of service?' the receptionist asks.

'Good afternoon. Could you tell me where you're keeping Mohammed Al-Hamani imprisoned?' Kelly asks casually.

'I'm sorry, Miss, but I'm not allowed to give you that kind of information.'

'Can't you make an exception for us? I mean, we're...from...Amnesty International and we...we would like to see how you're treating him,' Nathalie makes up a story.

'Yes...that's right. We would like to check whether you're not violating his rights, because that's his...right,' Kim adds onto the lie on a whim. _Let's hope this works._

'Amnesty International? Aren't you three a little young for that?' the receptionist becomes wary.

'You can't start early enough,' Nathalie shakes her head as if she were chiding her peers.

'Well...I can have you brought to him by an officer or by the detective. There you'll have him.' The receptionist cranes around them and beckons someone. Detective Rik Martens, the detective that helped the girls in September, approaches them. 'Mister Martens, these young ladies are a part of Amnesty International and would like to visit Mohammed Al-Hamani.'

'O really? And why this interest in Al-Hamani? Aren't you ladies better off visiting the Belgian prisons?' Martens is on to the girls' lie, but spares them because he's familiar with their background.

'Yes, but...another group is already doing that. The palace of justice is our job,' Kelly lies. Detective Martens may not trust their excuse, but he does trust them. The three girls seem sincere and really want to help Mohammed. And the boy could use any help he can get.

'Is that so? Well, we can't disappoint ambassadors of Amnesty International, now can we? Follow me if you like!'

He beckons the teenage girls and leads them through the palace of justice. Mildly confused, they follow him.

* * *

After having descended a couple flights of stairs, Martens and the girls reach the cell block underneath the palace of justice. While they march through the frosted gray corridor flanked on either side by deep sky blue cell doors, the sisters start to whisper amongst themselves.

'I don't want to sound negative, but what's the plan here? Are we going to break this guy out or what?' Kim whispers, so Martens doesn't hear her.

'No, we're just going to hear his side of the story, see if he also maintains that he's innocent,' Kelly whispers. Now that the girls were almost at Al-Hamani, her heart sank into her boots. Earlier, with Ivan there, she had felt much surer about her case. _That stud sure has a bad influence on me._

'Ah, are you starting to get your doubts about the Moroccan after all?' Nathalie smirks.

'Mostly I just find it suspicious that we need to get some guy out of jail all of a sudden. Ivan might claim he's part of the good guys, but for all we know he's one of the bad guys.'

Martens then halts at one of the deep sky blue metal doors. A guard is standing beside the door. Martens nods to him and the officer takes his keys and opens the door.

'All yours, detective,' the guard holds the door, staring blankly ahead of himself like a soldier.

'After you, ladies!' Martens motions the girls inside. Cautiously, the three sisters step into the 9.10 by 13.1 ft. cell with the detective close behind them. He stays near the door while the teens approach the bunk that the depressed Mohammed Al-Hamani is sitting on.

'Mohammed, you have visitors!' Martens grunts. With fearful eyes, the Moroccan boy looks up at the young women standing before him.

'What do you want?' he murmurs. They can barely make out a word. Prison life has already taken its toll after one week. He's completely drained of energy and life.

'Uhm, we would like to ask you a few questions...' Nathalie approaches him, but the boy keeps staring at his lap and turns his back on her.

'I won't answer anything without my lawyer, especially nothing from stuck up bitches like you.'

Nathalie rejoins her sisters, looks at them, and shrugs. Next, Kelly peers over her shoulders at Martens and the guard.

'Kim, petrify the officers,' she mumbles. She's just about as audible as Mohammed was.

'What?' Kim indeed fails to understand her.

'Freeze those cops!' she hisses irritated.

'O!' She turns around, stretches her hands, and freezes Martens and the guard. The detective was just about to shift his weight from his left to his right leg and the guard was just about to take a peek inside the cell, but now they're both not moving an inch.

'Mohammed, I know that you've been through a really tough week and that the media and lawyers are out for blood, but if there's something that you haven't told yet because you were afraid that no one would believe you, now's the time to tell us,' Kelly approaches him and sits down beside him on the bunk.

He turns around and looks at all three of them with big, hopeful eyes. 'Will you really believe me, no matter what I say?'

'Yeah. Trust me, nobody's more open-minded than us,' Nathalie nods once. Kim snorts just thinking about the irony.

'So, spill. What do you think really happened?' Kelly asks.

'Well...I had been at the store, but then I left because the store owner had caught me stealing.'

'And did that make you very angry?'

'No, in fact I was glad he caught me! That way I could tell those older guys that it hadn't worked and they would've just left me alone altogether. So afterwards, I went outside and that's when I heard the gunshots. I ran back inside, but I was already too late...And then some creep with an eye patch grinned at me and, poof, he was gone!'

'Poof and he was gone?' Nathalie chuckles without thinking twice.

'I knew you guys wouldn't believe me!' he snaps. He turns back around angrily and curls up in a little ball.

'Mohammed, no, we believe you, it was just the way you said it,' Kelly glares at Nathalie. 'You see, we also believe you were framed by a higher power.'

'Really? So, are you going to make sure I get out?' he smiles hopefully. The usually ultra-right-wing witch turns to her sisters and after an affirmative nod from the both of them, she says:

'Count on it! We have to leave now, though, but we will return and then this whole thing will have been cleared up. You just need to hang in there for a little while, okay?'

Kelly stands up and steps outside of the cell with her sisters. Just in time, because the two officers start to move again at that exact moment. Surprised to see the girls outside of the cell so soon, Martens has the door closed again, after which he escorts them out.

* * *

The following day, Costabor, headmaster of Magic School, is reading an anthology in his office. Similar to Ivan's office, his is classically designed without a hint of personality.

Suddenly, the shooter from the convenience store, the one with the black eye patch, is standing in front of him. Furiously, the guy bends over and forcibly plants his hands spread out on Costabor's desk.

'Well, well, if that isn't my dear enemy Moenen.' _Ugh, what does that lowlife want this time around?_ the headmaster rises from his office chair and wants to offer him his hand, but the angry man refuses to shake it.

'Costabor, I'm not going to beat around the bush. What do you think you're doing?' Moenen, the shooter with the eye patch, sneers.

'I was in the process of reading this fine work, but that's not what you're referring to, is it?'

'No! I popped in unnoticed on my innocent yesterday and what do you know? All of a sudden, I see three witches talking to him. They were giving him goddamn hope. Yuk!' he averts his head and spits on the floor. The black vile burns an acid stain in the marble. Disgusted, Costabor turns up his nose at the scene.

'How can you be so sure they were witches? They might as well have been social workers or his harem. You do know these Muslims are allowed to have several wives?'

'I know they're witches because one of them petrified the policemen. And according to my sources, you've recently discovered three witches. One of them was able to stop time, right?' _If this prick thinks he can thwart my plans, he doesn't know who he's going up against._

'Well, not so much time, but moving objects. My dear Moenen, if you're so certain they're witches, why don't you take them out? You were a renowned witch slayer, weren't you?' _That way I'd get rid of those meddling teens altogether._

'Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? My sources also revealed to me the identity of those witches: the Enchanted Ones! Isn't it suspicious that of all witches, they - the witches you found - are trying to help my innocent?'

'A witch does what a witch does. They're always trying to help innocent people.'

'But I was just planning to let that specific innocent become one of us to please the master. Now who would want to prevent such a thing?'

'It's an outrage what you're insinuating. Besides, I don't need peace offerings to please the master.' _At least I have that advantage._

'Now you don't, but that could change and you know that just as well as I do.'

'You try and shame me; the master won't hear of it anyway.' _I hope._

'Maybe not, but I'm keeping my eye on you,' he lifts his eye patch to emphasize his threat. His usually covered eye now burns with a strong orange glow. The next moment, Moenen has disappeared as suddenly as he appeared. One moment he's there, the next he's not.

Costabor takes the threat seriously and confers with himself: _No matter what it takes, I need to prevent that jackass from getting to his innocent. But how?_ He thinks for a while and soon finds the perfect solution.

* * *

Not a minute later, Costabor enters Ivan's office, where the young teacher is correcting a couple of tests.

'Costabor, what brings you here? Do you need something?' the unwary young man, eternal friendliness itself, asks.

'No, no, but I have shocking news. That demon is planning on killing your innocent.' _That isn't entirely a lie._

'What?' he jumps up in shock. 'Why? I thought he needed him.'

'Maybe he's revising his plans and the boy is in his way? Ivan, you must get the Enchanted Ones or that innocent is a dead man! Quickly, hurry!' _Before Moenen finds out._

Ivan nods and orbs out in a swirling flurry of white sparkles. _That kid sure is gullible_ , Costabor sniggers smugly.

* * *

At the Saint-Joseph's College, Nathalie and Kelly are sitting next to each other during cultural sciences class. While their teacher, a scruffy bearded 20-year-old, is skillfully explaining the designated curriculum, the two girls and their class listen and take notes attentively.

Then there's a knock at the door and a lady of the secretariat hurries into the room. She whispers something into the ear of the cultural sciences teacher, who then tells the girls to accompany the secretary. Without further explanation, the girls follow behind the lady.

'Uhm, miss, why did you remove us from class? Did we do something wrong?' Nathalie asks, concerned about her reputation.

A pained expression shoots across the secretary's face, but she quickly smoothes her features. 'Your cousin will explain later.'

 _Cousin?!_ Confused, the girls peer at each other, but they'll hold off on their questions. The lady takes them to the secretariat, where Kim is already waiting for them.

'Kim, what are you doing here?' Kelly asks.

'You'll see,' she nods to the secretariat and rolls her eyes. Big frowns crease across her sisters' faces until they hear a familiar voice answering the secretary's 'My condolences!'

'Thank you, ma'am. Grandpa Hellfire really meant a lot to my cousins and me.' Then Ivan steps outside of the secretariat.

'Our grandfather passed away? Is that the best excuse you could come up with?' Nathalie shakes her head in disappointment. _Don't expect a teacher to make up a good excuse, not even a wizard._

'I couldn't think of anything else. I got you out of your class, didn't I?'

'You did. That reminds me: did we ever explain how we're sisters all of a sudden and are moving in together?' Kim asks.

'Now that you mention it...no, I don't think so. Meh, if anybody asks, we can just tell them the truth, can't we?' Kelly crosses her arms.

'That a senile wizard knocked up our moms and that he left us a house, including a book of spells?' Nathalie raises an eyebrow. _I think they'll sooner lock us up in the nut house._

'No, that our moms slept with one and the same guy and that we inherited a house from him.'

'If you put it like that...'

'Girls, could you focus for a minute?' Ivan draws their attention. 'I didn't get you out of your classes for a bunch of chitchat.'

'O yes, of course, by all means. What do you need us for?' Kelly gawks at him with lovey-dovey eyes.

'According to Costabor, that demon's going to kill Mohammed. You need to break him out fast.'

'And how do we do that? Just hop in, knock out a few policemen, pummel an armored door and hope that we make it out the building alive?' Nathalie rambles.

'Well, if only you guys knew someone with the power to freeze the entire building...'

'Ah, I see. Hmm, what would you guys be without me?' Kim giggles.

'Happier?' Kelly offers, which causes Kim to pinch her arm. 'Auw!'

* * *

A while later, the Enchanted Ones walk into the palace of justice for a second time. Detective Martens is just in the middle of giving a press conference concerning the Al-Hamani case. The film crews, photographers, and reporters have mobbed him like a pack of wolves.

'Mohammed Al-Hamani continues to maintain a claim of innocence and believes that his trial will be declared null and void and that he'll be able to work right out of the building...'

He spots the girls. _What are they doing here again?_ Then Kim raises her arms and stretches her hands. And suddenly, the three teens disappear before his eyes. _Hé, where did they go?_

A moment later, the alarm goes off in the palace of justice. Accompanied by blaring sirens, police officers run into the massive entrance hall and all civilians are evacuated. Police cars come rushing in while a police helicopter circles the building.

Mohammed Al-Hamani has escaped! The palace of justice is up in arms and all responsibility lies on Martens' shoulders as the authorized detective.

His first idea is to question Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim, because their sudden presence and absence was awfully coincidental. Maybe he had imagined them, but somehow Martens had a gut feeling that the girls were more involved than they had been willing to share so far.

* * *

Martens' gut feeling is right, because a little later, the Enchanted Ones and Mohammed orb into the girls' attic in a glowing sea of small powder blue orbs. The four of them are holding each other's hands, but they let go now that they have arrived. Ivan, who was already present in the attic, walks up to them.

'No one saw you, right?' he asks panicky.

'I don't think so. As soon as we came in, I froze everyone and everything, including old Mohammed here!' Kim pats him on the back with a grin.

'How were you guys able to pull that off actually?' the Moroccan teenager asks, confused.

'You wouldn't believe us, even if we told you,' Nathalie chuckles.

'Trust me, nobody's more open-minded than me,' he grins.

'He's _good_!' Kim mutters to Kelly stretching the word "good".

'Well Mohammed, we're witches and we have certain gifts. Gifts that we just used to break you out. It's with these gifts that we want to try and prove your innocence, but we're still going to need your help with that,' Kelly explains.

'Okay. What can I do to help?'

'You could point out the guy that framed you,' Ivan suggests.

'Yeah, but how am I supposed to point him out?'

'Well, the girls have a book filled with pictures of guys like him. Maybe yours is in there as well?'

Kim walks over to the book stand of the Enchanted Book and opens up the book of spells, 'Come have a look.' Cautiously, Mohammed approaches the Enchanted Book and takes a quick peek.

'You can take a closer look, you know! It won't bite,' Nathalie spurs him on as she giggles. _Well, at least I hope it doesn't bite._ A little more confidently, the innocent Moroccan steps a bit closer and starts turning pages in the book of spells on his own accord.

After some browsing, a certain page suddenly draws Mohammed's attention. The drawing on the page is the spitting image of the man he saw: eye patch, stubbly scalp, and a long, black coat with buttons. Atop of the drawing, centered and in thick elegant letters, reads the name "Moenen".

'This one, that's him! This is the guy that shot all those people.'

'Are you sure?' Kelly asks.

'Positive, I'll never forget that eye patch and that smirk!'

'Moenen, an infamous recruiter of humans and a witch slayer...' Kim reads off of the antique page.

'Another witch slayer? Does witch skin make fabulous fur coats or something?' Nathalie crosses her arms across her chest. _I feel like it's open season on witches._

'Hé, not to bother you or anything, but where's your toilet?' Mohammed suddenly asks.

'The toilet? Well, that's...where was the bathroom again?' Kim asks Kelly and Nathalie.

'You live here, but you don't know where your toilet's at?'

'We only just moved in here, you know,' Nathalie tries to defend herself.

'The bathroom's down the stairs, to the end of the hallway, first door on your right,' Ivan points him in the right direction.

'Thanks!' Mohammed tiptoes to the door of the attic, after which he scurries down the stairs.

'Maybe I should follow him to make sure he doesn't get lost?' Ivan raises his eyebrow, mocking them. He then goes after the young Moroccan.

'Well, that was embarrassing,' Kelly mumbles.

* * *

In the meantime, Mohammed has found the bathroom and standing upright, he is emptying his bladder into the toilet while Ivan keeps guard outside. As he should be, because evil lurks around every corner...

Moenen, the crew cut demon with the eye patch, suddenly appears right in front of Ivan's face, lifts his eye patch, and shoots the blond wizard down with an orange energy dart from his eye. Afterwards, he pushes down the door handle of the bathroom and opens the door. Inside he sees Mohammed standing up and peeing into the white, porcelain toilet bowl. The toilet seat is of course put up.

'Hello Mohammed, long time no see,' Moenen smirks with a devilish grin.

'You? Help!' he screams while he zips up his pants in a panic. Upstairs, the Enchanted Ones hear his cry for help.

'What's his problem? Does he have trouble zipping up his pants or something?' Kim dashes to the door of the attic with Kelly and Nathalie in her wake.

'Maybe he doesn't know how to put down the toilet seat?' Nathalie chuckles while she and her sisters skip down the stairs to the attic. Yet when Mohammed cries for help a second time, they quicken their pace.

In the bathroom, Moenen is trying to calm down Mohammed. 'Mohammed, calm down! I just want to have a word with you. I'm not the one you need to be afraid of; all I want is in your best interest.'

'O yeah? And is that why you killed those people?' he takes a few steps back, but grazes the bathtub, so there's nowhere for him to run.

'That was just to show you how humans are really like. They're cruel, heartless, and impulsive, and that impulsiveness leads to catastrophes. You were the only witness and have maintained your innocence the entire time, but still they arrested you and now they're willing to throw you under the bus. Tell me, Mohammed, are you enjoying prison?'

'No, I'm not listening to you! You're trying to brainwash me, but I won't fall for it.'

'Brainwash you? No, show you some insight. Insight into the insult humanity is to evolution. And I can relieve you from that insult, Mohammed. Yes, I can. I can make you just like me, like a higher being, a god!'

'You're no god, but a devil!'

'Devil might be a bit exaggerated. Demon, on the other hand...' Moenen laughs. He approaches him.

'Help!'

* * *

In the hallway alongside the bathroom, the three sister witches see Ivan lying unconsciously on the floor. The bathroom door is open.

'Ivan!', Kelly kneels beside him and helps him up, 'Who did this to you?'

'Demon, bathroom, hurry!' he points to the room with azure blue tiles. Determined to avenge her blond crush, the short witch stands up and drags Kim into the bathroom while Nathalie concerns herself with Ivan. Inside, the two girls do see the demon Moenen approaching Mohammed.

'Mohammed, watch out!' Kelly squints her eyes and straightaway Moenen flies to the left. He hits the hard, tiled wall, lands on the toilet, and then rolls off the porcelain bowl unconsciously. The shock makes the toilet seat drop.

'Well, at least he put down the toilet seat,' Kim shrugs.

Next, Mohammed tiptoes around Moenen and hides behind the two witches. 'That dude is sick! He wanted to make me just like him.'

'Yeah, that's what he does. Come on, we'll take you back to the attic, so we can find something in the Enchanted Book fast.'

* * *

In the attic, Nathalie and Mohammed lay down Ivan, whom they've dragged upstairs, in a threadbare couch. Afterwards, the Enchanted Ones scurry to the Enchanted Book, but before they can do anything, Moenen appears out of nowhere. He stretches his arm and aims for the sisters. The gun he used before appears in his hand in an orange flash like that of a retractable Agfa camera from the 40s.

'Don't move an inch or there's a bullet hole in your head!'

'Okay, okay!' Kim raises her hands up in the air. Her sisters follow her lead. Ivan wants to get up from the couch, but Moenen aims his gun at him.

'That goes for you too!', then he aims it at Mohammed, 'Come on, Mohammed! Do you really want to be like them? Weak, afraid, mortal?'

'Human, you mean!' Nathalie snaps.

'Shut up, witch!' he aims the gun back at the Enchanted Ones.

'I'm staying the way I am and I'm not going anywhere,' Mohammed says steadfastly.

'O yeah? If you stay here, you're a dead man. They're willing to prosecute you after one week, how long do you think it'll take them to convict you?'

'Don't listen to him! He caused all of it. He's able to manipulate public opinion, that's his gift. That's why, and for no other reason, the police investigation went so fast!' Kelly tries to convince him with what she read in a flash from the Enchanted Book.

'I'm innocent. I didn't do anything! You're the murderer!' the Moroccan teenager roars.

'Yes, that's right. Good job!' Moenen responds cynically. Now that he isn't paying attention, Nathalie carefully pulls out her cellphone and records the armed demon on video.

'And do you know why I killed them? Because they were useless humans, just like you. They meant nothing, have never meant anything, and would never have meant anything either. Just like you! For all I care, you can rot with them in hell!'

Suddenly, Mohammed storms and tackles him. The gun gets hurled across the attic (and fortunately doesn't go off) and glides to Ivan across the wooden floor.

'Ivan, get the gun!' Kelly cries. The teacher-wizard immediately does what she says. Nathalie stops recording and the girls quickly look for a spell on the exposed page of the Enchanted Book.

Moenen shoots Mohammed from him with an orange beam from behind his eye patch causing the innocent boy to land on a set of cardboard boxes. The demon turns his glowing eye towards the Enchanted Ones, but they read off the spell from the Enchanted Book:

'Evil does as evil is.

Crush this demon's hubris.'

Now not only Moenen's eye, but also his head starts to glow orange like a kettle on a stove. His eyes and mouth burn like flamethrowers while he screams in pain, which causes him to drop to his knees. He holds his glowing orange hands to his head and explodes at once.

* * *

A couple hours later, the girls have called detective Martens, who takes both Mohammed as the murder weapon as Moenen's confession with him. Of course, Mohammed is later acquitted of all charges. Even later, the innocent Moroccan is dropped off at home. The Enchanted Ones and Ivan join him for the reunion.

As expected, Mohammed's mother is over the moon to see her baby boy again. Her euphoric embrace would break any normal person in half, but her 17-year-old son hugs her with the same intensity.

Kim sighs, elated. 'All's well, end's well.'

'So, Kelly, I've actually not heard a single bad word about immigrants from your mouth. Have you finally seen the light?' Nathalie bumps Kelly teasingly.

'I wouldn't go that far, but I believe that I do have to re-evaluate a few prejudices.'

'Sooooo?'

She rolls her eyes. 'Fine, not all Moroccans are bad or criminals.'

'That's what we needed to hear,' Kim hugs her in a childlike manner. The brunette and Nathalie join the reunited family, but Ivan takes Kelly aside for a moment.

'Hé, I know that this mustn't have been easy for you, but you turned out to be the bigger man. I'm proud of you.'

'Thank you, Ivan. That means a lot to me. Even though I don't have a choice as an Enchanted One, it felt good to help an innocent.'

'You were born to do this, Kelly,' Ivan laughs and his hearty laugh makes Kelly's heart skip a beat. _He's really one special guy_ , she sighs, smitten with him.


	6. The Little Merwitch

In the middle of the night during the first week of October, all is quiet, except for the attic of the Enchanted Ones. The teenage witches are being hassled by a horned demon. The broad-shouldered brute with two big brown horns coming out of his skull stampedes towards Kim.

'Kelly, get him!' Kim quickly stretches her hands and freezes him before he knocks her over.

'This'll teach him to eat cats,' Kelly squints her eyes and the horned demon flies against a stack of boxes standing against the wall behind him.

'Handcuffs!' Nathalie points to a pair of handcuffs ( _Don't ask me where we got those._ ), which light up powder blue and split into surging and hovering little orbs. The blonde then points to the K.O.-ed horned demon's hands on his back and the tiny, powder blue light orbs zip to them. The following moment, the tiny orbs stick together again and the horned brute is in chains.

When he has been captured, Ivan comes orbing in in a swirling flurry of white sparkles. 'Another good catch?'

'Yes, a horned demon. He's all yours,' Kelly gestures to the stupid monster in handcuffs.

'Okay, I'll take him to Magic School. Costabor will know what to do with this guy. Go to bed. You guys earned it. Thanks for helping.'

'Yeah, but it still frightens me that these demons can just barge in here unannounced. I mean, how do they know where we live?' Kim crosses her arms.

'Well, they simply sense your presence. It's one of their gifts.'

'As long as those gifts don't bother me tonight. Deuces!' she spins around and leaves the attic without so much as a word.

'What's her problem?'

'A Latin pop quiz, nothing serious,' Nathalie shrugs.

'I'll be off then. Come on, bull head!' he grabs hold of the horned demon and orbs to Magic School in a swirling flurry of white sparkles.

* * *

From a similar flurry of sparkles, Ivan steps into Costabor's office with the shackled horned demon. The headmaster stands up to meet his protégé halfway.

'The Enchanted Ones are sure getting the hang of it. Thank them for me.'

'I already did. What should I do with him?' Ivan pushes the horned demon forward. Costabor takes him from him and puts him down in a chair.

'I'll take care of that one. Go on home now.' Ivan orbs out and then Costabor takes a small driftwood box from one of his desk drawers.

'What's in there?' the horned demon asks curiously.

'The beginning of the end.', the headmaster opens the small box and removes some kind of glistening golden pearl, 'Do you know what this is?' The stupid monster shakes his horned head in denial, 'This is a mermaid egg and today's your lucky day.'

He drives his hand into the demon's lower abdomen. His hand goes right through the demon's layers of skin as if he were putting his hand in a tub of water. He places the egg inside the demon's body and when he pulls his hand back, the monster looks unchanged.

'As soon as that egg comes into contact with fresh water, it'll hatch and the mermaid guppy will start gnawing at your meat until there's nothing left of you but an empty skeleton.'

'That's horrible!' the demon shivers and starts squirming to get himself loose.

'Indeed, too bad for you. Green Lake!', Costabor waves his hand over the demon and orbs him away in a swirling flurry of white sparkles, 'Let's see how the Enchanted Ones are going to handle that mess.'

* * *

At the bottom of a deep lake with actually green water, the horned demon is resisting the handcuffs with all his strength in between rock formations and water foliage. He won't die by drowning, but the prospect of ending up as mermaid food scares the living daylights out of him.

Unfortunately for his sake, he is swallowing gulps of fresh water, which causes the mermaid egg to hatch. The mermaid guppy, a golden humanoid monster with octopus tentacles instead of legs, immediately starts nibbling at the demon's organs. The horned brute is suffering excruciating pain, which he eventually succumbs to. Meanwhile, the ugly octopus-like mermaid feasts on the bountiful meat of the deceased demon.

A week later, the mermaid guppy has grown and it has developed a golden shark tail, but the little octopus limbs still dangle from its waist. Another week later, the creature already very strongly resembles a mermaid, even though it has a pale green skin and long ginger hair. The pale skin is as wrinkly as a prune, just like when you've been soaking in the bathtub for too long.

The mermaid is already trying to sing, but her singing sounds like nails on a blackboard. After another week of practice, she is full-grown (no more octopus arms, but a set of piranha teeth) and she has mastered her seductive and lethal singing voice.

The lake that the mermaid grew up in, the Green Lake, borders a small city. "Small" can be taken quite literally because the settlement is inhabited by leprechauns. All houses are like miniature figurines and were built in classical Irish style, in gold and green colors, with lots of shamrock patterns. The leprechaun city and the Green Lake are situated within the vast domain of Magic School.

The leprechauns themselves are oftentimes not much larger than 3ft. 11in. and are always dressed in traditional Irish clothing. Because they guard pots of gold, which they use to spread luck, they also often wear gold accessories.

Around this time of year the happy little people celebrates their version of New Year, which goes hand in hand with lots of music and partying. The young monstrous mermaid hears this party music and swims towards it.

A male leprechaun is moping about on his own on the bank of the Green Lake, feeling lonely on this New Year's Eve. The mermaid sees an opportunity and takes on her beautiful appearance. Her sharp piranha teeth turn into pearly white straight dentures, her golden shark tail becomes that of a dolphin and her wrinkly green skin smoothes out to a flawless, pale white skin. Then she sings her infamous song.

'Hear my begging call, sweet man, and join me underwater. Love does conquer all, sweet man, and none must fear the slaughter.'

Hypnotized by the mesmerizing voice, the leprechaun walks into the water. The mermaid stops singing and changes back into her monstrous form. She swims towards the male leprechaun, who is standing up to his armpits in water, and pounces him. She shreds him to pieces and drags him into the deep.

* * *

A month later in the Enchanted Ones' house - Kim is in a particularly good mood and cheerfully bounces down the spiral staircase that leads straight into the kitchen.

'What a beautiful morning.'

'You're in a good mood. Do you have a new boyfriend or something?' Kelly asks curiously.

'I wish. Today I just feel, I don't know why, really happy.'

'Did you win the lottery?' Nathalie raises an eyebrow.

'No, I'm just so very merry.'

'You won't stay that happy for long,' a voice suddenly rings through the kitchen.

'What was that?' Nathalie asks. _Not another demon?_

The following moment, Ivan orbs into the kitchen in a swirling flurry of white sparkles. 'It's just me.'

'What a pleasant surprise, Ivan,' Kelly smiles broadly. _As if it could ever be an unpleasant surprise to see you._

'Every time I see you, Ivan, I just get this headache,' Kim smiles taciturnly.

'Why?'

'Because you're always a bearer of bad news.'

'Ow, spill it! What's going on this time, Ivan?' Nathalie drums on the breakfast table.

'Someone's attacking innocent leprechauns.'

'Leprechauns? Those bearded little guys with tiny pointy hats?' Kelly asks befuddled.

'Those are real?' Nathalie marvels. _Would the goblins from_ Harry Potter _exist as well?_

'Yes, but their numbers are visibly dwindling. More and more of them are disappearing every night.'

'Those poor little guys,' Nathalie pouts. 'Why would anybody want to hurt them?'

'Leprechauns are bringers of luck. They mine gold and let it ripen. When it's just right, they use the gold nuggets to spread luck around the world.'

'Neat,' Kelly nods. 'Has anyone seen who or what made them disappear?'

'Some claim it's the work of mermaids, but that's impossible!'

'Because they don't exist?' Kelly guesses with a grin.

'No, mermaids do exist, but they aren't native to the Green Lake.'

'What's the Green Lake?' Nathalie asks.

'It's where the leprechaun city is situated.'

'O, now I get it,' Kim rolls her eyes sarcastically.

'I guess we have to come with you to this leprechaun village?' Kelly asks.

'Leprechaun city!' Nathalie corrects her.

'City or village, whatever. We have to come along with you, don't we?'

'Yes, that's right.'

'There we go again,' Kim sighs. _Nothing screams excitement like a trip to a miniature city._ The sisters hold hands and then Ivan orbs with them to the leprechaun city in a swirling flurry of white sparkles.

* * *

The four of them appear atop a green hill that towers above a little Irish city and provides a perfect view of the settlement and the lake. The entire miniature city was designed after Irish example, with paved golden streets, little clover green roofs, windows, and doors, and golden yellow walls.

'What an adorable little city!' Nathalie giggles, already feeling more than connected to the leprechauns and their city. _It's as if I ended up in the world of_ Harry Potter _! Which actually is the case, because you're a witch, smart-ass!_ she argues with herself.

'What's gotten into you?' Kelly asks.

'I just think it's impressive that such little people are able to build such a city.'

'We're not that little!' they suddenly hear a squeaky woman's voice calling. The noise comes from below and when they look down, the four youngsters see a little chubby leprechaun woman. She is carrying a small basket under her arm.

'O, how neat!' Nathalie squeals.

'Hello Ivan. How do you do?' the little lady asks.

'I'm fine, but how are things here?'

'Oh, none of the missing leprechauns has been found. We women make up the majority now.' This fact apparently troubles her, because tears are forming in her eyes.

'Girl power, that's good, right?' Kelly laughs.

'O, there's nothing good about it! Our fathers, husbands and sons have suddenly gone missing and we don't know where to.' Now her resistance falters and the leprechaun woman starts to cry.

'How awful! Is there anything we can do?' Nathalie asks.

'Yes, you could get those mermaids out of the Green Lake.'

'I've already told you: there are no mermaids in the Green Lake!' Ivan drones.

'And yet those mongrels are swimming in the lake!'

'Calm down, you two! We're here and we're going to help, but you need to stop shouting or there'll be hell to pay!' Kim outshouts the other two.

'Feisty girl,' the leprechaun lady whispers snickering.

'Yeah, and they're all like that,' Ivan snickers in return.

'Can you please take us to your leader?' Nathalie almost begs.

'Of course, I'll take you to our king.' The five of them walk through the little city until they arrive at a small castle that oversees a golden square.

'Our king resides here,' the leprechaun lady points to the pocket-size fortified stronghold in clover green and golden colors. _Another cozy little building!_ Nathalie thinks.

Ivan and the Enchanted Ones' arrival had apparently already been announced, because not a moment later, blaring trumpets and drumrolls sound from the tiny castle. The green wooden portal swings open and a small, noble man with a long white mustache and a gold crown on his head steps outside.

'Welcome, dear friends!' the leprechaun king welcomes them. 'I suppose you are here because of our predicament.'

'Yes, we're here to help you with your mermaid infestation,' Nathalie confirms.

'Marvelous, come along!' he urges them. The leprechaun king leads the four visitors to the bank of the Green Lake and stops there. 'Presumably, it all started right here.'

'Presumably?' Kelly raises an eyebrow.

'This is where we recovered the hat of one of our brothers. It was also the only thing we recovered.'

'When did it all start?' Kim asks.

'About a month ago, around the New Year's feast.'

'But New Year's isn't until next month?' Kelly asks befuddled.

'Leprechauns celebrate New Year's in November,' Ivan clarifies for the girls.

'Are you sure that it's the work of mermaids?' Nathalie asks.

'Absolutely, each night we've heard singing coming from the lake,' the leprechaun king assures her.

'I think it's best that we patrol the bank tonight,' Kelly decides.

'That's okay with me,' Nathalie nods. _It's not like I had any plans or anything._

'Same for me, but I want to stop by a fishing store first,' Kim says.

'I'll take you,' Ivan offers.

'Then we'll see you tonight?' Kelly asks.

'Yup, see you tonight,' Kim nods. Next, Ivan orbs away with her in a swirling flurry of white sparkles.

* * *

Late at night, Kelly and Nathalie are walking along the bank of the Green Lake when suddenly a swirling flurry of white sparkles emerges before them. Once the sparkles have cleared up, Kim appears, sent by Ivan. And for some reason she is carrying a harpoon gun.

'Good, you're finally here, but what's that in your hands?' Kelly asks.

'The only thing I can do is freeze people. You both have active powers and I want to be able to defend myself against these mermaids just as well,' Kim waves the weapon around.

'Alrighty, just be sure to aim that thing at the right person,' Nathalie shies away from her waving around the harpoon gun. The Enchanted Ones then walk around aimlessly until a certain moment when they hear a mermaid sing:

'Hear my begging call, sweet man, and join me underwater. Love does conquer all, sweet man, and none must fear the slaughter.'

The three teenage witches immediately run towards the voice. When they reach it, three leprechaun men are already walking to the water.

'Stop! Don't!' the girls warn them, but the leprechauns are completely hypnotized by the mermaid's magical singing. They keep on walking until they are up to their elbows in water. Just like a hungry shark, the mermaid then swims towards them.

'We need to get those leprechauns out of the water,' Nathalie says determined.

'Then we just pull them out,' Kelly squints her eyes and the leprechauns fly from the water onto the dry bank, but the mermaid jumps after them. Changed into her monstrous form with the wrinkly green skin, she shrieks in the middle of the air with a voice like nails on a blackboard.

'Rhaa!'

'Shoot her!' Nathalie panics.

'I thought you'd never ask,' Kim fires the harpoon and hits the mermaid in her shark tail. The creature then plunges back into the water.

'You've got her!' Nathalie cheers.

'Yeah, but she's putting up a fight!' Kim is struggling to hold onto the harpoon gun.

'Rhaa!' The mermaid is fighting like a devil in a font of holy water and wants to swim away with all her strength, but the harpoon won't let go of her tail.

'Help me!'

'Yes of course,' Kelly also grabs hold of the harpoon gun and helps Kim pull in the mermaid.

'There _is_ an easier way. Mermaid!' Nathalie stretches her arm to the lake and waves over to the bank. The water around the mermaid glows powder blue and a moment later the deadly temptress lands on the bank in a sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs.

'That works as well, of course,' Kelly shrugs.

'Yeah, but now she's cut loose from my harpoon!' Kim yells pointing to the freed mermaid.

'Rhaa!' the green shark woman screeches. She hops towards them like a fish out of water.

'Shoot, shoot, shoot!' Kelly tugs at Kim's sleeves.

'Where was that button? Oh here!' Kim fires the harpoon straight through the mermaid's heart causing her to dissolve into bubbles.

'Weird,' Nathalie frowns. _I had expected something more, at least something other than bubbles._

'Everything that happens to us is weird these days,' Kim grumbles.

* * *

The girls help the leprechaun men that they saved back to their families and afterwards discuss the situation with the king. Ivan is present as well. The four tall humans almost need to duck their heads to enter the throne room.

'Your Majesty, that mermaid won't be bothering you anymore,' Nathalie reports as proud as punch.

'Yup, she dissolved into bubbles,' Kelly nods affirmatively.

'You and your people are safe again, Your Grace. We can leave now!' Kim beams.

'I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint you. According to our eye witness, someone else has disappeared tonight.'

'There was an eye witness?'

'Yes, the missing leprechaun's wife,' Ivan explains. A sniffling leprechaun woman is led into the throne room.

'She has taken my Seamus,' the leprechaun widow blubbers, drying her tears with a handkerchief with a shamrock pattern.

'Don't worry. We'll do everything we can to retrieve your husband and to punish the mermaid that did this to him,' Nathalie promises her while she comfortingly squeezes the leprechaun woman's shoulders.

'Thank you.' Weeping and sniffling, she walks out of the throne room.

'You said we would do anything we could to retrieve him, but what exactly are we going to do?' Kelly asks.

'No clue, but I couldn't tell her that we don't know what to do.'

* * *

Later in the attic of their father's house, the gang has opened up the Enchanted Book, but not yet found anything. Frustrations arise.

'Well, this doesn't help jack squat!' Kim sighs. 'Everything we already now is in it.'

'Everything?' Ivan asks.

'Everything,' she nods and she reads from the book of spells, 'A mermaid is a very dangerous creature who uses her singing voice to lure victims in the water...'

'...Once they are in the water, she attacks them and lays a single egg in their carcass, which almost immediately hatches. The guppy then feasts on the host's flesh...' Kelly adds.

'...After three weeks the mermaid is full-grown and the cycle starts anew,' Nathalie concludes the lesson on mermaids.

'It doesn't say anything on how to defeat them?' Ivan asks.

'It only says that they dissolve into bubbles if you pierce them through the heart, but we already knew that,' Kim says.

'Nothing else?'

'There is a spell that turns you into a mermaid...' Kelly says.

'That's it!' Nathalie exclaims because she just had a flash of genius. 'We turn ourselves into mermaids, infiltrate their society, and defeat them from the inside out.'

'That may actually work,' Ivan sounds optimistical. _As long as the mermaids don't expose you and skin you alive._

'Yeah, but what if our cover is blown and those mermaids attack us? By the time we've vanquished one of them, two others have already taken out one of us,' Kim reasons, as if she were able to read Ivan's mind.

'What if I orb them to the bank?' Nathalie suggests. 'We would be sending them away before they could attack or warn other mermaids.'

'Then they would just be lying on the bank and they could jump right back in the water,' Kim disapproves of the idea. _That's just a drop in the ocean._

'But what if we arm the leprechauns and let them stab every mermaid we send up?' Kelly suggests.

'Yes, you'd be decreasing their numbers drastically and they couldn't expose you,' Ivan backs her plan. His support boosts her confidence.

'I'll copy the spell on a piece of paper together with the reversal spell.' Kelly runs to the old coffee table standing in the attic, takes a pencil and a piece of paper from it, runs back to the Enchanted Book, and copies the spells.

'Okay. I'll go to the leprechaun king and explain to him what we're doing, because we're going to need his people's help,' Nathalie decides before orbing out.

* * *

The following day, an army of leprechauns has gathered on the banks of the Green Lake. Every leprechaun is holding a knife, pickaxe, shovel or other sharp weapon, ready to stab a mermaid through the heart. Widows of missing leprechauns are amongst the ranks as well and they want revenge for their husbands, whom the mermaids tore away from them. Nathalie inspects the formation with pride and then turns to her sisters.

'And sisters, ready?'

'Yup,' they nod affirmatively.

'Be careful, though! Mermaids are dangerous creatures,' Ivan warns them. 'I wouldn't want you guys to get hurt.'

'Don't worry about us, Ivan,' Kim smiles. _Though, Kelly could maybe use a little extra support, Ivan_ , she winks mentally.

'Okay, we only need to say the spell that's on this piece of paper,' Kelly shows the small written strip of paper.

'And where are you going to put that after we've cast the spell?' Nathalie asks.

'Then I put it in this little tube together with the reversal spell,' Kelly holds a black necklace with a little tube for a pendant in front of Nathalie's face.

'Stylish!' Kim compliments her.

'Thank you. Here goes nothing.' The Enchanted Ones cast the spell together:

'Transform our legs and with your aid,

we will become a mermaid.'

'Nothing's happening!' Nathalie fumes impatiently. _Stupid spell from that ridiculous book!_

'Give it some time,' Kelly urges her. Blue glitters start to crawl over their bodies, from the tips of their toes to the tips of their hair. 'See, we're already changiiiii...' she tries to add, but she is already falling to the ground. Not just her, her sisters thud on the sandy bank too.

The three teenage witches have transformed into mermaids from head to...well...tail. Where there had been legs only a moment ago, the girls are now sporting a colored dolphin tail. Kelly's is purple, Nathalie's blue and Kim's pink. For the remainder, they are only wearing a shell bra the same color as their tail.

'Look at us! We have a tail and a shell bra!' Kim unsuccessfully tries to cover her body, and mostly her breasts.

'Doesn't look too bad,' Ivan (despite his courtesy still a man) ogles the practically naked upper bodies of the three girls.

'Enjoying the view, Ivan?' Kelly raises an eyebrow with a grin.

'Yes...I mean, no...wait...' he blushes.

'Ivan, you cheeky devil!' the leprechauns chuckle.

'There is one problem. How do we get in the water?' Nathalie tries to hop forwards, but just like the mermaid of last night she doesn't get very far.

'Pssh easy!', Kelly squints her eyes and glides into the water, 'Yippee!'

'Duh!' Nathalie orbs into the lake.

'Cool, but how do I get into the water?' Kim hobbles forward a bit clumsily.

'Wait, I'll help you out. Levitatio!' Ivan points to her and she starts to levitate above the ground.

'Ivan, I don't know if you understand the concept behind "swimming".'

'All in due time,' he bends his hand to the left and Kim hovers to the water and stays suspended above it. 'Good luck!' He lowers his hand and she drops into the water before swimming to her sisters. Together they dive into the deep green water.

* * *

At a certain moment, Kim notices that their surroundings keep getting darker. The Enchanted Ones are already so deep in the Green Lake that light has difficulty penetrating here. Thankfully, Kelly has thought about everything and she takes out three mineworker lamps. The teens put on the headbands and turn on the lights on their foreheads. Three rays of light illuminate their way while they swim deeper and deeper into the Green Lake.

At the bottom at last, the girls suddenly see a creature with the head and the arms of a child, but the tentacles of an octopus instead of legs. The mermaid guppy is swimming around a fresh corpse and sticking on the dead leprechaun with its greedy tentacles.

The Enchanted Ones stick to the plan and so Nathalie sends the little monster and the corpse to the bank in a sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs. Now they can continue on their path without the guppy sounding the alarm.

On the bank of the Green Lake, the corpse materializes near the leprechauns. They notice it as soon as they recognize Nathalie's powder blue light.

'O no, it's my Seamus!' the widow recognizes her former husband when the leprechauns reach the body. She bursts into tears, but suddenly the mermaid guppy jumps from Seamus' body. The bystanders jump out of their skin, but after a battle cry from Ivan, one of the leprechauns pierces the creature with a spear causing it to dissolve into bubbles.

Meanwhile, the Enchanted Ones keep swimming along the bottom of the Green Lake. All of a sudden, Nathalie sticks out her blue dolphin tail to stop her sisters. Again, two mermaid guppies block their path, but now a creature that looks like a cross between a shark, an octopus, and a human who has been in the bathtub too long swims towards them as well.

Without hesitation, Nathalie also orbs these three creatures to the bank in a glowing sea of tiny, surging powder blue light orbs. Like before, the three mermaid guppies end up near the leprechaun army and are slaughtered immediately.

* * *

The Enchanted Ones have now reached a point where the green water of the lake has suddenly turned colder. The shivers are running across their half-naked bodies and smooth tails. Thanks to the spell, the three undercover mermaids can speak underwater too.

'Brr! It's so chilly around here,' Kelly rubs her arms to warm herself up. _How do those mermaids survive in these bikinis?_

'We must have reached the deepest spot of the lake,' Nathalie assumes.

'Hé, look over there!' Kim points to a trench that stretches out before them. On either side of the teenagers, gnawed on and devoured leprechaun skeletons line the trench. It is like a mass grave at the bottom of the lake.

'That's a whole lot skeletons,' Kelly mutters in shock. _What kind of monsters are these phony Ariels?_

'I'll send them up,' Nathalie is about to orb the leprechaun skeletons away, but Kim stops her.

'Why would you do that? Haven't these leprechauns suffered enough?'

'They deserve to know what happened to them, don't they?'

'Okay, go ahead, but be quick!' Kelly rubs her freezing arms. _This place is giving me the creeps._

'Rest in peace!' Nathalie orbs all skeletons to the mainland in a powder blue beam of tiny light orbs. A surging sea of light descends upon the bank. The leprechauns and Ivan assume it is another bunch of mermaids, but nothing can prepare them for what is to come.

The powder blue light fades away and two long rows of leprechaun skeletons are revealed. Several widows faint at the sight of it, other leprechauns burst into tears. _That's a lot more mermaids than I thought_ , Ivan thinks in horror. _If every corpse contained an egg..._

* * *

In the Green Lake, the Enchanted Ones suddenly swim into an ancient city. The fact that the witches in disguise can see the Rome-themed city is astounding in itself, but the streets of the settlement are illuminated by surging golden orbs writhing with electric energy. How this is possible in the middle of the lake baffles the girls.

'Phiew!' Kelly whistles, which causes a stream of air bubbles to float upwards. 'You have to admit, it's pretty breathtaking.'

'But probably also dangerous. This city is teeming with mermaids,' Kim flinches back in fright.

'That's nothing we can't handle.' Nathalie is ready for a fight, for retribution. Silently, the sisters wade through the streets of the city and see a large amount of full-grown mermaids, but they are all ugly as hell. The young witches see piranha teeth, shark tails, and a wrinkly green skin everywhere.

'I'm feeling so anxious all of a sudden,' Kelly feels uncomfortable.

'How are we going to solve this? We can't attack every mermaid, can we?' Kim is feeling anxious as well.

'I don't think we have much of a choice.' Without hesitation, Nathalie swim to a mermaid, ready to attack her, when Kelly calls her back.

'Wait, Nathalie! I remember something from the Enchanted Book,' she hisses. Nathalie swims back and awaits Kelly's answer. 'A mermaid colony starts with a single mermaid who lays one egg in each victim. Over time, the mermaids' society grows, but if the first mermaid gets taken out, the entire colony dies because the others are her descendants.'

'But where do we find that first mermaid? It could be anyone!' Kim throws her arms up in the water. _And if these mermaids are already so ugly, what must that first one look like?_

'The head mermaid is probably guarded or worshipped in some large building.' The mermaid spies gaze around for a minute, searching for a large, important-looking building, when Kim suddenly sees something.

'How about that one?' she points to a large sandstone building that suspiciously looks a lot like the Pantheon in Rome. In particular, she is pointing to the geison, which reads the name of the building: _Aquae Concilium,_ the Council of the Water.

* * *

The Enchanted Ones swim to the building supported by pillars, but remain at a distance. A handful of mermaid warriors all carrying a trident or harpoon gun are guarding the building.

'Yeah, it might not be so easy,' Kelly whispers.

'All I need to do is orb the guards out,' Nathalie shrugs.

'Maybe, but unlike us, they have harpoons and tridents,' Kim fears for her life.

'Then we dodge their attacks and I orb them to the mainland.' The sisters swim towards the warriors, but before they can lift a finger, Nathalie has orbed them away.

'That was easy,' Kim grins.

'A little too easy.' Nathalie is becoming a bit suspicious.

'Nah, they're all afraid of us,' Kelly shrugs. 'Let's go inside!' She squints her eyes and the gate to the building swings open, 'Oooh!'

Inside of the high hall of the building, an entire army of mermaids awaits them. When the sea monsters catch sight of the Enchanted Ones, they turn to them, bare their piranha teeth, and swim towards them.

'Maybe not so easy,' Kim panics.

'Nah, they're afraid of us, aren't they? Bank!' Nathalie orbs them to the mainland too. It is a real battlefield over there. The leprechauns are struggling to keep up with the Enchanted Ones. From every side, harpoon guns are being fired and knives are being drawn. Bubbles are frothing everywhere, like at a foam party from hell.

'Where do they keep coming from?' a leprechaun shouts while he defends himself against a wrinkly mermaid with all his might. Ivan stretches his hand and aims for the school of monsters. A glistening storm rages form his hand and blasts them up in the air. They all go splat on the bank and dissolve into bubbles. _I've severely underestimated this entire situation. What mustn't the Enchanted Ones be dealing with?_ Ivan thinks.

* * *

In the high hall of the Aquae Concilium at the bottom of the Green Lake, Nathalie has just orbed away the last mermaid. Even though the building is now deserted, the Enchanted Ones still have to search for the first mermaid.

'Okay, now we need to focus. Where's the head mermaid?' Kelly asks.

'Let's try this door!' Agilely, Nathalie throws the door open with a whack of her blue tail. The sisters swim through the door and enter a high, dome-shaped room. Because of the mermaids' limited resources, the enormous room hardly bears any decorations, but the high domed roof itself already demands a certain amount of respect.

On the other side of the domed room, a gorgeous mermaid about twice the size of the others is sitting on a throne made of bones. Her golden dolphin tail is twice as long as her body and seems to emit its own light because of the electric charge crackling over it like the body of an electric eel.

Her long, flowing hair has been wrapped around her half-naked body several times and shines a fiery red color in the light of a surging golden orb of electric energy. Her skin is as pale as fresh yoghurt and only intensifies her hair color. Bright colored shells and sea stars are woven into the never-ending strain of ginger hair. While she is sitting on her throne of bones, the head mermaid sings her hypnotic song:

'Hear my begging call, sweet man, and join me underwater...'

'Stop it! Your song doesn't work on us,' Nathalie sneers.

'Love does conquer all, sweet man, and none must fear the slaughter,' she calmly continues singing while she brushes her hair with a big fork.

'Girl, you're like a broken record,' irritated, Kelly squints her eyes and hoists the disproportionately large mermaid from her throne of bones. Next, the head mermaid hits her head against the domed ceiling and sinks downwards.

Provoked by these magical mermaids (and especially that one with braces), she changes into her regular, ugly form. Her skin becomes pale green and as wrinkly as a prune, her hair loses its gloss, and her dolphin tail turns into a pointy shark tail.

'Iew, she's really ugly,' Kim is disgusted by the monstrous mermaid.

'Is that stopping us?' Nathalie grinds her teeth. The revolting transformation is even making her panic a little.

'Of course not!', Kim stretches her hands and freezes the mermaid, 'There, that should keep her...hé, look at her throne!'

'Yes, it's made out of bones. Probably a symbol of authority,' Kelly shrugs.

'No, look at that skull!' she points to the human skull that rests atop the throne. Two large brown horns protrude from the skull.

'Hé, didn't we catch a horned demon two months ago?' Kelly remembers.

'Yeah, but how did he end up here?' Nathalie wonders.

'Maybe he already had a mermaid egg in him and he jumped in the water after we caught him?' Kim suggests.

'Now that's what I call a suicide terrorist,' Kelly scoffs. Suddenly, the head mermaid is moving again and she produces a deafening shriek, 'Aaaaaaah!'

'Auw! Is that really a reason to scream like that?' Kim covers her ears against the screeching. Next, armed mermaids swim into the room.

'I don't think that's why she screamed. Run! I mean: Swim!' Kelly shouts. The undercover mermaids swim off, but are closed in in the domed room on every side. The head mermaid is behind them and the mermaid warriors are guarding the only exit.

'Great idea, Kelly. Now what?' Kim panics.

'Up!' Nathalie leads the way. The sisters swim over the mermaids' heads towards the ceiling, but the head mermaid opens her mouth.

'What's she up to?' Kelly asks while she is beating her purple tail with all her might. An electric orb, like the ones surging all over the city, charges up in the head mermaid's mouth.

'That's what she's up to,' Kim panics, immediately moving her pink tail faster. The head mermaid fires the electric golden orb, which whizzes towards the Enchanted Ones.

'Fling it back!' Nathalie shouts. Kelly squints her eyes and the electric orb shoots back to the enormous mermaid. She gets hit, but doesn't have a scratch.

'Don't you usually see on TV that if you reverse your opponents' attack, they go up in a puff of smoke?' Kelly gawks at the unharmed head mermaid.

'Watch out!' Kim warns her sisters about the approaching danger. The Enchanted Ones are barely able to dodge a couple harpoons of the mermaid warriors swimming after them. The head mermaid is hot on their tail too, like a ravenous great white shark.

Now the teenage witches are trapped between two evils again. In front of them the head mermaid, who is charging another electric orb, and behind them her guards.

'What do we do?' Kelly asks.

'No clue,' Nathalie panics as well now. The head mermaid fires an electric golden orb while the mermaid warriors fire their harpoon guns.

'Wait!', Kim stretches her hands and freezes all the mermaids, and their attacks too, 'If we let them attack each other, they might take each other out.'

Kelly quickly squints her eyes. The attacks switch places and direct themselves at the mermaids.

'Here goes nothing!' Kim moves her hands in little circles and makes the attacks move again. The electric orb whizzes onwards and destroys the mermaid warriors while the harpoons hit the head mermaid.

'Good job!' Nathalie compliments Kim.

'Yeah, but she still isn't defeated,' she points to the head mermaid, who, even though there is a number of harpoons stuck in her large body, is still swimming about. She is already charging another electric orb to boot, which she fires and Kim freezes again.

'Now I've had it!' Kelly squints her eyes and sends the electric orb back, which strikes home. It hits the head mermaid square between the harpoons. This way the projectiles function as conductors that direct the fatal electric current deep into the head mermaid's flesh.

'Aaaaaaah!' With a final scream, the head mermaid explodes in a giant bang and dissolves into thousands of bubbles. All the other mermaids and guppies dissolve into bubbles at the same time. There are so many bubbles rising to the surface that the entire city is collapsing, even the Pantheon-like building is caving in.

'Let's get out of here!' Nathalie grabs her sisters' hands and orbs with the two girls to the bank before the rubble comes crashing down on them.

* * *

On the bank of the Green Lake, the leprechauns and Ivan see the bubbles of the dissolving mermaids rise to the surface. It looks like the entire lake has turned into a bubble bath. _Did they pull it off?_ Ivan wonders. _So many bubbles can only mean one thing._

Suddenly, the Enchanted Ones come orbing onto the bank, but they are still in their mermaid form. Clumsily, they hobble closer.

'There's still three mermaids left! Get them!' the leprechauns shout, automatically running to the girls, their weapons at the ready.

'O no!' Kim stretches her hands and freezes all the leprechauns, including Ivan.

'I think it might be best if we change back into our normal selves,' Nathalie suggests.

'Do you still have the spell, Kelly?' Kim asks.

'Yup, it's still in my pendant,' Kelly takes the tiny roll of paper from the little tube dangling from the necklace. Together they cast the reversal spell:

'Transform us back, return our feet,

solve our problems in a heartbeat.'

Blue glitters are dancing over their colored dolphin tails and where the glitters fade away, their legs reappear. They are also wearing their clothes again, but they are still soaking wet. Just then, when the girls are getting back up, the leprechauns and Ivan start moving again.

'Enchanted Ones, where did you come from all of a sudden?' the leprechaun king asks, surprised.

'Those mermaids that were just lying on your bank, that was us,' Kelly winks.

'O, accept our apology. We didn't want to hurt you, noble saviors of our city,' he bows gratefully.

'That's okay. If you had turned into a mermaid, I'd have stabbed you too, Your Highness,' Kim says cynically.

* * *

Later that night, Nathalie and Kelly are sitting in the dining room musing over this once again unique experience. They are sitting at the table and drinking a glass of ice tea while they are waiting for dinner, which Kim is preparing. She spontaneously took it upon herself to be the family's chef.

'O my god, I never ever want to turn into a mermaid again. Never!' Nathalie rests her head on the hard table.

'That wasn't so bad, but that horrible fish smell! Yucky, three showers later and I still smell like slime and scales,' Kelly supports her head with the palms of her hands.

Then Kim enters the dining room with three little plates. On each plate there is a hollowed out tomato filled with a very appropriate garnish. One by one, she places the delicious dishes in front of her sisters.

'What's this?' Nathalie asks, intrigued.

'Tomate crevette,' she smiles when she sits down at the table too.

'Shrimp? Iew, yuck! I can't stand the sight or the smell of fish anymore,' Kelly shoves the plate away from her. _I was never that much of a fish-eater anyway._

'Really? Because I actually really craved seafood after our little adventure.'

At that moment, Ivan appears in the dining room in a swirling flurry of white sparkles. 'Have you guys recovered from your mission yet?'

'Don't talk to me about it!' Kelly now lays down her head on the table too. _I'm sorry, Ivan, I'm not in the mood to flirt for a while._

'Ivan, there's something I'm still wondering, though,' Nathalie recalls. 'How did that horned demon of two months ago end up at the bottom of the Green Lake?'

'I don't know, I just handed him to Costabor. Maybe he couldn't control him and he escaped?'

'Still, how did that mermaid egg get inside him?'

'And then another thing! Why did we have to help those leprechauns? I thought we were only supposed to protect the innocent,' Kim asks.

'Well, the leprechauns are in fact innocent, but to give you a proper reason: leprechauns belong to the magical community and since you guys are now also a part of it, it's nothing more than your responsibility to help them.'

'Mmm, what on earth did we get ourselves into when we agreed to help you,' Kelly sighs.


	7. Teen She-wolf

It is the night before the full moon when Dorien is leaving a party at her tennis club. The Enchanted Ones' brown-haired friend with the blushing cheeks is joined by two older friends. The two young men tower above her with their broad shoulders and muscular bodies.

They have had a little too much to drink and clumsily totter onto the street. Dorien is coming with them to support them and to make sure they get home safely. The three youngsters are completely alone and in the night's sky the moon is almost full. Its majestic glow glides past the gray buildings and illuminates the path of the partygoers.

'Damn, that was one crazy party,' one of the boys laughs. He has black hair, a lightly tanned skin, and green eyes. His crew-cut hair operates as the dividing line between his pointy ears and long face, which some girls would consider handsome. The thing girls really fall for is his cheeky boyish smirk.

'Yeah, I haven't guzzled this much in ages,' the other boy runs his fingers through his wild brown hair. His tanned skin is already showing some signs of wear and tear, but no fault can be found with his muscular body. His round face, his deep-set brown eyes, and his stubby nose make him look a little like a caveman.

'Hold up, you guys drank way too much,' Dorien pushes the two sloshed boys against a wall so they don't tip over.

'O, I have such a headache!' the boy with the wild, brown hairs laughs drunkenly.

'Shh! Someone might hear us,' the other boy with his cheeky boyish smirk chuckles.

'You don't need to worry, I'm the only one here,' Costabor, the sinister headmaster of Magic School, suddenly steps out from the shadows.

'Who are you?' the youngsters freak out.

'That's not important. Listen...'

'Sorry gramps,' the caveman kid interrupts him, 'but we need to go home.' Laughing in a drunken haze, the threesome teeters past Costabor.

'You shouldn't have done that. Howl of the wolf and glow of the moon, make a werewolf out of this goon,' he hisses a spell in their direction.

The three friends stiffen and bend over tautly in a spastic convulsion. Their arms, legs, and back expand and tear their clothes to pieces as they grow. Long, dark hairs sprout from their skin and condense into a thick coat of fur. Claws, sharp fangs, and a pointed snout contort their human characteristics.

Three man-sized wolves have taken the place of the young partygoers. The three werewolves throw their enormous heads back and howl under the waxing moon.

'Make some noise, wolfies! But you guys have to promise me one thing: attack the pixie village,' Costabor commands hem. Grinning, the wolves bare their pearly white teeth and then they scurry along the streets.

'Stupid dogs,' Costabor scoffs, pleased.

* * *

The following morning, Nathalie and Kim are already up while Kelly is still in bed sleeping. Kim just got back from the store and walks into the kitchen.

'Has Kelly still not waken up?' she remarks as she places the shopping bags on the countertop.

'No, she keeps on sleeping. But oh well, we've been experiencing that every Saturday,' Nathalie sighs. She is sitting at the small kitchen table reading a _Harry Potter_ book with a steaming cup of tea in front of her.

'I have nothing against her sleeping in a little, but staying in bed until eleven o'clock or later every Saturday is cutting it.'

Nathalie takes a sip from her tea. 'Oh, I'll call this time around. Kelly, wake up!'

Kelly turns over in bed another time and slowly opens her eyes. She hears her sister calling and answers:

'Okay, I'm coming. Give me a couple minutes.'

'Okay, but hurry! We haven't got all day!'

'Every Saturday the same old song. I can sleep in if I want to?' she yawns. She climbs out of bed and teeters to her personal bathroom, where she washes and gets dressed. Afterwards, she walks to her bedroom door, still drowsy.

'Though, it's actually kind of late. Let's go down...' She touches her door handle and gasps. In a sudden shock, her body stiffens and images flash before her eyes like figments of a dream. She gets a sort of hazy, gray picture before her eyes that she trips and falls on her face.

'That was weird!' she blinks momentarily. Without another thought, she opens her door and steps into the hallway. Her foot gets caught behind a running shoe and she trips. She falls on her face with a big "thud".

'What was that?' Kim hears the sudden fall. She walks to the stairs in the big entryway and calls upstairs, 'Everything alright, Kelly?'

'No, I tripped and fell!', she removes a running shoe from under her, 'Whose shoe is this?'

Nathalie also checks out the noise and recognizes the footwear Kelly is holding on top of the stairs. 'Hey, that's my shoe!'

'O really?', angrily she tosses it through an open window, 'Oops, there it goes!'

'Hmm, there's one more where that came from,' she shrugs and nonchalantly heads back to the kitchen. Wobbly, Kelly shuffles down the stairs.

'You sure are in a bad mood,' Kim remarks. _Well, when aren't you?_

'You would be too if you had trip...' she touches the wall and again her breath stops short and her body petrifies. She hears the doorbell ring and sees Kim opening the door in fuzzy, gray images. A mailman hands her a package and a letter. 'Very weird!'

'What's weird?' Kim asks and then the doorbell rings. 'Oh, the door!'

'Wait, don't open it!'

'Why not?' The bell chimes one more time.

'It's the mailman. He has a package and a letter for you. He's going to ask you to sign a form.'

'What?' The doorbell jingles once more.

'Is no one getting that?' Nathalie calls from the kitchen.

'Yes, I'll get it!' Kim calls back before looking worriedly at Kelly. 'Kelly, sit down. That fall didn't do you any good.' She walks to the end of the entryway and opens the front door. And indeed, the mailman is at the door.

'I have a letter for Kelly C., Nathalie B., and Kim Jansen. Are you one of them, miss?' the postal officer asks.

'Uhm...yeah, I'm Kim Jansen.'

He hands her a cream-colored envelope with their names on it. 'There you go and I also have a package. If you would like to sign here?' He shows her a clipboard with a form of receipt and she signs it with the provided pen.

'Okay? Where's the package?'

'Here you go and have a nice day!' He hands her the package, turns around, and leaves in his postal van. Afterwards, Kim closes the door and walks into the living room, where Kelly has settled in on the couch in the meantime.

Carrying the package and the letter, Kim looks at her sister with a dumbfounded expression. 'How did you know that?'

'I have no idea! I touched the wall and I got this kind of vision. I don't actually know.'

'You know who we have to notify about this,' Kim raises an eyebrow with a grin.

'Oh Ivan!' Kelly cheers, elated. Not a second later, the teacher-wizard arrives in a swirling flurry of white sparkles.

'Is something wrong? I heard you guys calling my name.'

'Wow, that's weird...do you know who else is weird? Kelly!' Kim eyes her, still amazed.

'Really? What's the matter with you, Kelly?' Worried, he sits down beside her on the couch. It makes her blush.

'Oh, I just fell,' she brushes the incident off as a trifle.

'O, that's not so weird,' he takes hold of her hand, which makes her blush even more.

'Not that! The visions!' Kim groans. _O my god, one look of that handsome fella and she's all flustered!_

'O, that. I had a vision that I fell and also one about the mailman, nothing else.'

'Yeah, but you explained them so precise it's creepy,' Kim crosses her arms across her chest.

'Kelly, is this true? Do you have premonitions?' Ivan asks.

'I don't know if I can call them premonitions...'

'But you see events before they actually happen?'

'Yeah. What does it mean?' She is getting a little worried now.

He takes hold of her other hand as well. 'Nothing serious. It's most likely your powers that are developing. It's not uncommon for witches to manifest several powers.'

'O, alright then,' she blushes even more now. _God, his hands are soft!_ 'What's in the package?'

Kim looks at the box she is holding and reads the label that sticks to it. 'O...uhm...skin creams and lotions...for Nathalie, I guess.'

Right then, Nathalie makes herself heard again from the kitchen. 'Who was at the door?'

'The mailman! With a package for you!' Kim calls back.

'O, my skin creams and lotions. I'll be right there!'

'Hand me that box,' Kelly stretches her hands out to the package and Kim hands her the box, 'I'd like to see what's in...'

She gasps and stiffens again when she opens the box. In black and white images, she sees Nathalie applying the foundation cream of Yves Rocher. When she wants to look in a mirror, she has a rash on her face and screams. 'Wow!'

'What? Did you have another premonition?' Kim asks. At that moment, Nathalie enters the living room.

'Nathalie, I suggest you don't apply the foundation cream of Yves Rocher,' Kelly warns her.

'Why not?'

'If you do, you'll get a rash on your face.'

'How would you know?' Nathalie blinks a couple times out of bewilderment.

'Long story!'

'Cliffs Notes version: she has premonitions,' Kim says. _Kinda cool actually._

'O, neat! Can you predict the results of the lottery?' Nathalie conspiratorially raises her eyebrows.

'No, she must not and cannot. Kelly, you're not allowed to use your powers for personal gain,' Ivan looks deep into her eyes with his sparkly, chestnut brown gaze. Despite the fact that she is melting, she still has questions.

'What would happen if I did use my powers to win the lottery?'

'I don't know, but in any case you wouldn't be able to keep your winnings. You'd suddenly lose your lottery ticket or the lottery would go bankrupt and not be able to pay out.'

'I can collapse an entire monetary system with a single vision,' she looks a bit befuddled, but then she smirks, 'Awesome!'

'I don't think you understand what I mean...You guys absolutely cannot use your powers to meet personal ends! Promise me!' he addresses the three young witches.

'Fine, we promise!' they swear simultaneously, but reluctantly. _Not fair, we finally have magic powers and we're not even allowed to use them for fun_ , Kelly mopes.

'Speaking of your powers, the pixie village was attacked by werewolves last night.'

'Werewolves? Pixies? Those things are real too?' Kim asks surprised.

'Wait, are pixies the life-size women with big butterfly wings or the little people with small wings?' Nathalie asks.

'The little people with small glittering wings that sometimes steal your stuff. The large ones are fairies.'

'Are those real too?' Kelly's eyes grow to the size of marbles. _That would be just like in_ Winx Club _!_

'No, fairies are a children's fantasy.'

'But they were attacked by freaking werewolves!' Nathalie throws her arms in the air.

'Yes, I find that strange too. Werewolves never go near the pixie village.'

'Apparently, their restraining order expired. Can you take us there?' Kelly asks.

'Yes, they're expecting us.'

* * *

A while later, Ivan orbs the Enchanted Ones to the pixie village in a swirling flurry of white sparkles. Amidst a forest, the miniscule village is surrounded by tall oak trees. The tiny houses of the village look more like giant mushrooms, similar to the tiny houses of the Smurfs. These mushrooms are well-decorated with wreaths and tiny Chinese lanterns, but some are shattered and reduced to rubble.

'What happened here?' Kim asks.

'They were attacked by werewolves. I already told you.' If Ivan had an informal bone in his body, he would have said "Duh!" and rolled his eyes.

'Where are the pixies, though?' Kelly asks.

'They're right in front of you.'

'Where?' Nathalie asks.

'There!' he points to the ground, where there is a small group of tiny glittering humans. The pixies aren't taller than a hand. They wear little glittering robes and have small, pointy, see-through wings that sparkle in the light. Their little cheeks are so red it looks like they are constantly blushing. Fascinated, the pixies gaze at the - in their eyes - immense Enchanted Ones.

'They're microscopically small!' Kim snickers, causing a pixie to flutter up and kick her in the nose. 'Ouch! What was that about?' she rubs her aching nose.

'They don't like to be called small,' Ivan whispers to her.

'Fine, then we won't say how teeny-tiny they are.' The pixies shoot her a cross look. Clearly, this is not the best way to make new friends. 'What? I told you I wouldn't call you tiny.'

'Calm down, Kim! Before you're the one attacking their village,' Nathalie calms her down.

'Why have they decorated their village?' Kelly tries to change the subject.

'They celebrate their baptism feast around this time of year. All of this year's newborn pixies are anointed and the deceased pixies are commemorated.'

Suddenly, the pixies lift off and zip to their little village. Some of them tug at the Enchanted Ones' sleeves and hair.

'What do they want from us?' Nathalie asks.

'They want you to follow,' Ivan grins broadly.

* * *

In the pixie village, the girls are greeted warmly by the rest of the pixies. A couple of pixies flutter around them and place a wreath around each of their necks.

'How sweet of them,' Kim smells the colorful and fragrant garland.

'They may be now, but watch it or they'll steal your keys or other shiny objects.'

'Yeah, very informative, Ivan, but how about these werewolves? Where are they?' Kelly asks.

'Gone, of course! They only come out at night.'

'Does this mean we have to stay here until midnight?' Nathalie pouts. _Ugh, not again._

'I don't know if the werewolves will return tonight, so I guess you guys can go home.'

'Alrighty.' She happily snags the wreath from her neck and whirls around.

'Off with this thing.' Kelly hangs her wreath on a tree, but gets a premonition again. Her breath stops short and black-and-white images flash before her closed eyelids. She sees herself pit against a growling man-sized she-wolf. She squints her eyes causing the beast to crash against a tree. The she-wolf positions herself for an attack, but after having looked behind her, she flees.

'I don't think we'll be going home tonight.' _These premonitions might become a real pain in the ass._

'Why not?' Kim asks.

'Because I just had a premonition and in it, I saw the werewolves attacking again tonight.'

'Great. Another night of patrolling,' Nathalie throws her arms in the air and raises her eyes to heaven, but then she whirls back around.

* * *

At night, the moon is high above the pixie village. Almost full, it hangs there in the sky like a mother watching over her child from afar. And while the pixies are preparing their feast, the Enchanted Ones patrol along the edge of the forest.

'Those pixies sure are having fun. And what are we doing? We're hunting demons once again,' Nathalie nags. _I hope this won't become a weekly thing._

'Did you have any plans for tonight then?' Kim snickers.

'No, but it's the thought that counts. I'm a 16-year-old teenage girl. I shouldn't be chasing monsters!'

'Well Nathalie, tough luck for you and for us, because we've been given these powers as witches for a reason.'

'Including the fact that we're the Enchanted Ones and it's our destiny to protect all magical creatures and innocents,' Kelly adds.

'And we're not allowed to use our powers for personal gain. I know!' Nathalie dispiritedly hangs her head.

'Eh Kelly, what's the deal between you and Ivan?' Kim suddenly asks.

'Ivan? There's nothing between Ivan and me!' The sudden question makes her blush. _What does she know about us?_

'Oh no? You're blushing, though,' Nathalie laughs. _Busted!_

'Come on, Kelly. That shouldn't make you blush. I understand perfectly. Ivan is totally your type,' Kim peers at her sister from the corner of her eye.

'What's that supposed to mean?'

'Well, he's four years your senior, blond, and quite attractive.'

'So, I'm not the only one that thinks he's handsome?'

'No, we think he's a hottie too,' Nathalie laughs. _No thanks, no weird wizard for me!_

'Stop it!' _That's not funny. I actually like him._

'O Kelly, we're only teasing you. Come on, we're family!' Kim comforts the blushing witch. Suddenly, they hear something snap in the forest.

'What was that?' Nathalie freaks.

'I don't know. Shine your flashlight in the bushes over there!' Kim points to the bushes in the distance. Nathalie shines the flashlight she brought with her at the overgrown forest.

'Do you see anything?' Kelly asks.

'Yeah there!' Kim points to a rustling shrub and Nathalie shines her light to it. From the rustling bush, a cute little bunny hops forward. Its fur is gray, spotted with white dots. Innocent in nature, the critter nibbles at some grass.

'Oh, how creepy: a bunny,' Nathalie rolls her eyes.

'Not there! There!' Kim points to a sheen in the bushes. Nathalie shines her light at the sheen that gleams above the little bunny and she recognizes its shape:

'It's just a pair of sharp teeth in a wolf's maw. Wait, what? A werewolf!'

All of a sudden, a man-sized wolf leaps from the bushes, over the Enchanted Ones, and runs into the pixie village. The fur of the wild wolf is black on its back and white on its belly. The animal whooshes through the woods like a spear. After it has smashed a mushroom house, it throws its head back and howls.

'After it!' Kelly urges her sisters. The Enchanted Ones chase the werewolf, but keep a safe distance.

'Hup, go closer!' Kim tugs at Kelly's sleeve.

'O no, you go closer!' the redhead pushes Nathalie to the front.

'Me? No, you go!' the latter pulls Kim in front of her like a human shield.

'And I still think Kelly should go first!' the brunette shoves Kelly in front of her. A bit too hard, though, because she bumps up against the wolf. The black and white werewolf notices them and snarls.

'Good doggie!' Nathalie trembles in fear. The animal spins around towards them and bares its razor-sharp teeth with a gnarl.

'I'm scared,' Kim holds onto Kelly's arm.

'We have nothing to be scared of. We're the Enchanted Ones!' her sister bravely puts her chin up, but the werewolf continues to growl.

'Try telling it that!' Nathalie shrieks.

'Plan B?' Kelly looks at her sisters.

'Plan B,' they both nod.

'Run!'

All three of them bolt for the trees while the werewolf races after them. Its barks rattle them. The Enchanted Ones quickly climb a tree and hold onto its branches for dear life. Licking its lips, the werewolf gazes up at them from the ground.

'What do we do?' Kim pants.

'We stay here and wait for the sun to rise,' Nathalie suggests.

'Good plan,' Kim nods, scared.

'We can't just keep sitting up here?' Kelly wheezes.

'O yes, we can. All night long if we have to!'

Another wolf howls in the distance. The werewolf at the bottom of the tree notices the howling and leaves the girls be so it can dart back to the pixie village.

'O, it's gone. Thank god,' Nathalie breathes a sigh of relief.

'Yup, we're leaving the tree,' Kelly climbs down. Nathalie clambers down the tree too, but Kim keeps hanging onto the branches.

'But what if it comes back?'

'Then we'll use our powers!' Kelly drags her down.

* * *

The Enchanted Ones run into the pixie village and soon catch sight of the two wolves. The black and white wolf is joined by a different wolf with completely brown fur that almost looks red.

'There they are!' Kim points to the two large beasts. The werewolves hear her, turn around, and stalk towards the teenage witches.

'Did you have to be so loud?' Nathalie hisses. The wolves pounce them, but the girls throw themselves to the ground causing the animals to jump over them. The black wolf with the white belly viciously snarls at them.

'Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?' Kim scoffs while she and her sisters scramble to their feet. The wolf gets angry and pounces them again.

'You had to go and say that!' Kelly squints her eyes and with a big crash, the black and white wolf flies through a tree that then snaps in half.

'Nice hit,' Nathalie compliments Kelly, but now the brown wolf pounces them.

'Number 2!', Kim stretches her hands and freezes the animal, 'Let's get the hell out of here.' They walk away from the trajectory of the wolf that is suspended in motion and prepare themselves for the next attack.

'And action!' Kim moves her hands in little circles and makes the brown wolf move again. It plummets to the ground and hits its skull straight on a sharp protruding rock. The witches hear a loud, sickening "crack" and the wolf stays lying quite still under the trees.

At once, the wolf shrinks and from under all the hair appears a tanned young man with the muscular body of an athlete. A bleeding head wound amid his wild brown hair shines red in the moonlight.

'Is he...? I'm just saying,' Nathalie hesitates.

Kelly checks the young man's pulse. 'No, he's gone.'

'And he didn't look as bad as a human,' Kim mourns the attractive young man, who technically was innocent. A dilemma for a witch who is supposed to save innocents. The other werewolf, which Kelly knocked through a tree, regains consciousness and races towards them again.

'You don't know when to quit, do you? Wolf!' Nathalie points to the black and white wolf and waves her arm in the direction of a row of trees. The animal scatters into a surging sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs and the sea of light whizzes through the trees. The werewolf materializes and lands on its side, but gets back up. It throws its head back and howls. Another wolf answers the howl.

'What's it doing?' Kelly wonders.

'I don't know and I don't to wait and find out.' Kim freezes the black and white werewolf before it can do something else.

'Bad dog!' Nathalie sends the wolf back to a tree in a surging sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs, but this time the animal materializes too soon. A sharp branch pierces its throat and the werewolf droops its head. A red stain grows from its punctured throat like a blooming rose, drenching its fur in blood.

Its wolf form fades as well. Instead of hair and claws, a mildly tan young man with crew-cut black hair appears. He might not be a muscled jock like his buddy, but he also has an athletic body.

'Another hottie,' Nathalie mourns the stud.

'Are all tan, handsome guys with a six-pack werewolves now?' Kim despairingly throws her arms in the air. _If they hadn't been evil, I would've loved to have gone out with them._

Kim also can't seem to shake the feeling that they just murdered two innocent boys. Suddenly, they hear the screams of squeaky voices and the growls of a wolf.

'The pixies!' Kelly realizes the threat.

'And yet another werewolf? Our day couldn't get any better,' Nathalie sighs. They run to the center of the pixie village, where the baptism feast is to be held. There the sisters see a brown wolf with a white belly chasing panicky pixies.

'I hate werewolves,' Nathalie grumbles. _How many of these animals are out here?_

Kelly freaks out, because she recognizes this wolf. 'Hey, that's the werewolf from my premonition!'

'How can you tell?' Nathalie asks.

'Because this is a bitch and the last two had something she doesn't.'

'Have at it then. She's all yours!' Kim pushes her forward.

'Thanks, but not really. Hey bitch!' The she-wolf whirls around and growls.

'Yeah, growl all you want,' she squints her eyes and the she-wolf crashes against a tree. She shakes her head and barks. Kelly keeps standing there a little dazed.

'Is something wrong?' Nathalie asks.

'Yeah, she's supposed to run away right about now.'

At that moment the sun rises behind them. The she-wolf notices from the corner of her eye and gets scared the living daylights out of her. She immediately jumps in the bushes and runs to disappear at the break of dawn.

'See, I told you she'd run away,' Kelly grins.

'Indeed. Did you see her snout when the sun rose?' Kim remarks.

'You think werewolves are afraid of the sun?' Nathalie asks.

'That would explain why she ran away.'

'Yeah, but I don't want to think about that right now. I want to go to bed, because we've once again pulled a night shift,' Kelly yawns.

'What's going to happen to those dead boys? I feel so bad for them,' Kim asks.

'Do I hear a hint of sympathy for the devil in your voice, sis?' Nathalie chuckles.

'Those boys were human beings with a family. We can't just leave them to rot in the sun?'

'We'll ask Ivan to bury them or to find their parents, okay?' Kelly suggests.

'Yes, that's good. They may have been werewolves, but they were still...'

'Sexy beasts,' Nathalie interrupts her. 'Come on, let's go home!'

* * *

The following day, the girls are lounging in the couch of their living room. They are still beat from the previous night.

'My feet are killing me. Unbearable,' Kim flicks off her high heels.

'Who goes demon hunting in high heels anyway?' Kelly chuckles.

'That we're witches doesn't mean we can't look stylish while doing it.'

Nathalie's cellphone rings all of a sudden and Nathalie takes it from her pants pocket. When she sees it is Dorien who is calling her, she groans, but she answers the call cheerfully anyway.

'Hey Dorien, how are you?'

'Hello, Nathalie! Yeah, I'm fine, you? Anyway, did you receive my letter?' Dorien asks curiously over the phone.

'That was your letter? I mean, yeah thanks.'

'And what do you think?'

'What? What do I think of what?'

'Did you not even open the enve...?'

'I'm sorry, Dorien, but we've actually not had much time.'

'Okay, it's cool. It's an invitation for a party after finals. I hope you guys can make it.'

'O well, we'll see, Dorien. You see, we've been really busy and...'

'You can bring a plus-one if you want.'

'Yeah Dorien, like I said, we'll think about it. Bye!' Nathalie abruptly hangs up. Then she goes looking for the letter in the entryway. In the living room, Ivan orbs in with a smile in a swirling flurry of white sparkles.

'Hello everyone!'

'You look awfully happy. Did something fun happen?' Kelly asks curiously. _I hope it's not a new girlfriend._

'Something fun? Something amazing! You guys drove off those werewolves.'

'And that makes you happy? Those poor boys,' Kim looks blue.

'What's her problem?' Ivan looks at Kelly while pointing a thumb at Kim.

'Well, she's sorry for those cute boys because they're dead.'

'Yeah, they were really cute, but I also think they were innocent. Ivan, could you maybe bury them or find their parents? It would really mean a lot to me, because I feel so awful after last night.'

'Alright, if you want me to, I'll do it.'

'Thank you, Ivan,' Kim breathes a sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Nathalie has found Dorien's letter and she opens it as she re-enters the living room.

'Why did Dorien call?' Kelly asks.

'She asked if we had received her invitation for a party.'

'A party? What kind of party?' Kim asks.

Nathalie takes the invitation from the envelope. 'A party for after finals.'

'Sounds like a fun initiative. Why don't you go there?' Ivan grins broadly.

'Because it's not on our mind right now. You know, with all the demon crap?' Kim smiles sourly.

'But you've already taken out those werewolves, relax a little.'

'Well, we weren't able to deal with all the werewolves: one bitch got away from us,' Kelly admits.

'Really? Then why aren't you out there looking for her?'

'Because we're tired!', Nathalie sneers and then she quickly reads the invitation, 'Hey, that party is at Bouckenborgh, with an open bar.'

'Really? Give me that invitation,' Kelly reaches for the envelope. Nathalie hands her the letter, but when Kelly touches the paper, her breath stops short. She gets another gray premonition and sees Dorien transforming into a werewolf beneath the full moon. 'I know who that missing werewolf is.'

'O really, who?' Ivan asks.

'Dorien! She is the she-wolf. And I knew I recognized those boys from somewhere.' Kelly runs upstairs to her bedroom and pulls her pc from sleep mode. The others follow her to her room.

'What are you doing on Facebook?' Nathalie asks.

In the meantime, Kelly has opened up the Facebook page of Dorien's tennis club and has pulled up a group image. She points out last night's deceased boys on the picture. 'Those boys were members of Dorien's tennis club.'

'That's why they looked so sporty,' Kim smiles a little melancholically.

'Come, to the Enchanted Book!' Kelly races to the attic while the others continue following her. In the attic, Kelly has opened up the Enchanted Book to the page of werewolves.

'Werewolves do not choose to transform into wolves. The magical energy of the full moon forces them to do it.'

'Tonight is the full moon,' Ivan realizes.

'That means Dorien is going to change into a werewolf!' Nathalie gasps.

'I absolutely don't want to kill Dorien as well! I already feel horrible enough because of those innocent, muscular tennis players,' Kim refuses adamantly. _There's already enough blood on my hands._

'We don't have to kill Dorien. There's a spell in here that can remove the wolf from Dorien,' Kelly tries to calm her down.

'Can we help those boys too then? We can bring them back to life and then we remove the wolf from them as well and...'

'You can't resurrect them,' Ivan shatters Kim's idea to pieces. 'Magic can't do that. At least not indefinitely.'

'So let me get this straight. We can destroy demons, turn ourselves into mermaids, but we can't bring back someone to life and help them?', tears start to well up in her eyes, 'That's so unfair and I think those dead boys would agree with me.'

'Kim, we can't help every innocent that crosses our path, but let's at least try to save who we can,' Nathalie tries to console her.

'Okay, I just feel really badly about those boys,' Kim sniffles.

'We need to get Dorien here in the attic and then all we have to do is cast the spell and problem solved,' Kelly unravels her plan.

'Yeah, but where's Dorien now?' Kim asks.

'At home, duh,' Nathalie makes a logical assumption.

* * *

A little before five PM, when the sun is already starting to set, the Enchanted Ones reach Dorien's home. They ring the bell and Dorien's mother opens the door.

'Girls, it's almost dark out. What brings you here?' a woman who is Dorien's spitting image, but only with ginger hair, asks.

'We urgently need to talk to Dorien. Is she home?' Nathalie asks.

'Yes, she's upstairs in her room.'

'Can you go and get her, Mrs. D.?' Kim asks.

'Okay. Wait here,' Dorien's mother enters the house and climbs the stairs to Dorien's room, 'Dorien, a couple of girls are here to see you!'

'We need to hurry, because it won't be long before the moon is shining bright,' Kelly urges. After all, the moon has risen half an hour ago.

'I'm sorry, but she doesn't want to see anyone,' Dorien's mother is back at the door.

'Then she's out of luck, because we do want to see her!' Kelly pushes the lady out of the way and enters the house. Nathalie and Kim follow her.

'You can't just barge in here like that!' the older woman yells after them.

'Mrs. D., this is an emergency! Dorien!' Nathalie shouts as she races up the stairs.

'Go away, I don't want to see anyone!' Dorien screams back from her room. The sisters race to Dorien's bedroom on the second floor as quickly as they can.

'Dorien, open up! We want to help you,' Kelly knocks on Dorien's bedroom door.

'Go away!' their cursed friend shouts back.

'Dorien, we know you're a werewolf and we're sorry that your friends died,' Kim tries to convince her to open the door.

'Good, it's your fault they're dead!'

'Dorien please, come with us! We can help you.'

'Really? Okay, I'm coming,' she rises from her bed and trudges to her bedroom door. A cloud floats along the night's sky and reveals the full moon. In its infinite purity, the moon illuminates the rooftops of Antwerp. Its white light shines into the hallway outside of Dorien's room through a skylight.

'O no, the full moon is in the sky,' Nathalie freaks.

'Dorien, hurry up!' Kim screams while she hammers the door with her fist. Just when Dorien is about to push down her door handle, she starts to feel the influence of the moon on her person.

'I don't feel so well...', the hair on her arms starts growing rapidly and her teeth are becoming longer and sharper, 'O no. Help!'

'We need to get inside now!' Kelly squints her eyes and the door flings open.

'Dorien!' Nathalie gasps when she sees the transforming girl. _Obviously, she could use a shaving._

Dorien's hands and arms change into paws and claws and her metamorphoses is complete. On all fours and swishing a brown tail, the she-wolf advances threateningly on the Enchanted Ones. She howls once and jumps through the window to her left. She lands in a backyard and clambers over a low garden wall. Kelly followed her with her eyes from the window.

'Damn it!', she turns to her sisters, 'We need to get her to the attic somehow.'

'And how do you suppose we do that? Leave a trail of doggy treats all the way to the attic?' Nathalie raises an eyebrow.

'I don't care! Just...I'm starting to get an idea,' she looks at Kim, 'Freeze her', she looks at Nathalie, 'and orb her to the attic. I'll meet you guys there.'

* * *

While Kelly heads back home, Nathalie and Kim search for Dorien the werewolf. The two witches look around the small streets of Dorien's neighborhood.

'Dorien sweetie, come here, good doggie! Massively overgrown doggie...with sharp teeth,' Nathalie tries to lure their transformed friend with a frightened heart.

'Come on out, Dorien! We want to help you,' Kim tries to lure her in turn.

A trash can tumbles all of a sudden. A wolf maw shows itself and teeth like daggers glisten in the moonlight.

'Dorien? Show yourself! We won't hurt you,' Nathalie tries to reassure her, but the brown and white she-wolf pounces them with a growl.

'Bad dog!' Kim stretches her hands and freezes their werewolf friend.

'Kelly said: "I don't care." Attic!', Nathalie orbs the stationary she-wolf to the attic of their house, 'That leaves us.'

Kim takes her hand and together the sisters orb after Dorien, who has already turned up at the attic. The she-wolf arrives in a surging sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs. Still motionless, she stands at the center of the room.

Kelly, who was hiding behind the Enchanted Book, squints her eyes pushing the werewolf in a chair she had already put in place. She darts to the she-wolf and ties up her paws with strings of rope that were lying around in the attic.

Not a moment after she has tightened the last knot, Dorien starts to move again. She is raging like a rabid beast. Then Nathalie and Kim orb in.

'You didn't get here a moment too soon,' Kelly sighs.

'So, what now?' Kim asks.

'I don't know, I didn't think we'd get this far.'

'What? You've just become a psychic, but you didn't plan this far ahead?' Nathalie hollers.

'Just let me think. Oh!', Kelly suddenly gets an epiphany, 'The spell!'

She hurries to the Enchanted Book and opens it up. Nathalie and Kim go to stand next to her and the Enchanted Ones say the following together:

'Separate the beauty from the beast,

end this monster's feast.'

The raging Dorien drops her wolf head as if she has suddenly fallen asleep. Her "sleeping" wolf form appears before her in an orange flash like that of a retractable Agfa camera from the 40s and her unconscious human form stays put in the chair.

'It's working!' Kelly cheers, but the she-wolf awakens and lashes out at them with her claws.

'Or not!' Kim stretches her hands and freezes the werewolf while Dorien is waking up again. She gets frightened when she sees the she-wolf:

'Aah, no! Get her away from me! Hey, she's not moving.'

'And she's back,' Kim mumbles.

'But not in the right place. Switch!' Nathalie each points to Dorien and the werewolf with a finger and then crosses her fingers. Dorien switches places with the she-wolf in an exchange of tiny, powder blue light orbs.

Gratefully, Dorien runs to her friends and hugs her saviors. 'Thank you, but how do you plan on taking her out?'

'No clue. Do you have any suggestions? You were her after all,' Kelly asks.

'Werewolves can't stand the sunlight. That's why they need a human host.'

'Then all we have to do is wait for the sun to rise,' Kim grins optimistically, but the werewolf is moving again and raging like a storm on the small rickety chair.

'That's not an option,' Kelly purses her lips in fear.

'Wait! I recently stumbled upon something in the basement that might help,' Nathalie remembers and she orbs away.

'We have a basement?' Kelly mutters to Kim, who only shrugs. A few clicks later, Nathalie orbs back into the attic with a couple of UV lamps and an extension cord.

'Wisdom is better than strength. UV radiation originates from the sun, right?' she shoves a UV lamp in her sisters' and Dorien's hands each. They plug in the lamps in the sockets of the extension cord, which Nathalie connects to an outlet.

The UV lamps jump to life and immediately emanate their radiation. Yet the fur of the barking she-wolf starts to catch fire here and there and soon her entire coat is burning. Twitching and with a final howl, the werewolf bursts into a shower of sparks.

'Thank you. Thank you!' Dorien hugs the Enchanted Ones once again.

'It feels good to do good, doesn't it?' Nathalie smiles.

'Yeah, but I still feel sorry for those handsome boys,' Kim sighs sadly.

* * *

A week later, the teenage witches attend the shared funeral of the two tennis players of Dorien's club. Donned in matching black, pious dresses, the sisters take a seat all the way in the back of the church. Dorien is sitting with the other members of the tennis club and waves sheepishly at her magic friends.

'I'm glad Ivan found the families of those boys,' Kim whispers mournfully, but still relieved.

'Yes, that was a good idea of yours, Kim,' Nathalie squeezes her hand to encourage her.

'It wasn't their fault anyway. Dorien said some freak had cursed them. They truly were innocent.'

'And you were absolutely right about that,' Kelly looks at her, 'You really are our moral compass, eh?'

'I prefer to see the good in people,' she smiles. Kelly puts her arm around Kim's shoulder and hugs her.


	8. Your Meow Is Our Command

Sunday night, before the last final of the first trimester - Dorien is bored by her textbooks. She simply can't forget the events she experienced with the Enchanted Ones. The images constantly flash through her mind and control her every thought.

She admires the Enchanted Ones because they saved her, but a part of her still misses the werewolf that had taken hold of her. The wild uncontrollability of the wolf, the strange cathartic effect of the transformation and the emptiness after the separation; it is all overwhelming her senses.

She closes her books, rolls off her bed, and walks to her window. She crawls onto the windowsill, leans back against the window jamb, and looks at the moon through the window. With its ancient glow, the moon clears up Dorien's mind. The brunette is enjoying the soft caress of the moonlight so much that it makes her close her eyes.

While she sits there with her eyes closed, Costabor appears as inconspicuously as possible on the roof of the garage. Dorien's room looks directly out on a tail end of the garage and behind it lies her garden. Underneath his arm, Costabor is carrying a wicker pet carrier with a steel door.

He tiptoes closer. Just within Dorien's line of sight, he halts and kneels carefully. He puts down the wicker pet carrier and opens the little steel door of the twined animal transport cage. A pitch-black cat with emerald green eyes limberly crawls out of the wicker carrier.

'She's the one! Through her you'll get to the witches. If you get caught, you don't mention a word about me or the master, because then he'll destroy you in an even more horrible way than they could ever think of. Understood?' he whispers into the cat's ear. It only meows and casually patters to the window. Costabor orbs the hell out of there.

Suddenly, Dorien hears something screeching against her window. She opens her eyes and sees a black cat scratching the glass. Immediately, she swings open the window and lifts the animal off the windowsill.

'Hey kitty! What are you doing here?' she holds the cat in front of her face. The cat meows again, but now the animal's eyes light up a fluorescent green. Dorien's eyes light up fluorescent green as well and then she lovingly snuggles and pets the cat.

'O there, there, I'll take care of you, kitty. And I will protect you at all cost,' she pets the critter with care while it purrs of joy.

* * *

The following day, the last final - On the main playground of the Saint-Joseph's College, Kelly, Nathalie, and Kim are huddled together as always. They chitchat a little until Dorien approaches them.

'Hey! How do you do?' she asks cheerfully.

'Okay, even though it's finals. I just hope the questions aren't too hard,' Nathalie says.

'Before I forget, are you coming Wednesday?'

'Wednesday?' Kelly furrows her brows.

'Yeah? The party to celebrate the end of finals?'

'O sorry, totally slipped our minds,' Kim apologizes. _And totally not in the mood._

'Ohh, I understand. You guys are probably too busy with your witch business and stuff.'

'Whoa! What did you just say?' Kelly grabs Dorien by the arm.

'Oh, it's fine. You probably have to go save someone again with your powers or something. It's okay.'

'Dorien, we would rather not have people know we are witches. You didn't tell anyone about us, did you?' Kelly looks at her with a piercing gaze.

'O, don't worry. Your secret is safe with me. Even better, I want to be just like you.'

'Confident?' Nathalie smiles sourly. _I hope she doesn't mean what I think she means._

'No, silly, a witch! I want to be a part of your coven.'

'No, no, that doesn't just happen. You can't suddenly become a witch because you want to. We didn't even want to! And you also definitely can't just be a part of our coven, or pack or whatever you want to call it,' Kelly tries to raise her awareness of the difficulties.

'But didn't it happen all of a sudden for you too? Suddenly, you guys closed yourselves off, then you turned out to be sisters and immediately after that you started living together.'

'Yes, but that's a completely different...' Then the school bell rings.

'Dorien, how about this? Drop by our house after this final. There we can explain everything to you, calmly and privately, so you might understand our situation,' Kelly suggests. Dorien nods and agrees.

* * *

A couple hours later, Dorien rings the bell of the Enchanted Ones' house. Nathalie opens the front door and lets Dorien in. The brown-haired girl is carrying a pet carrier for some reason. Kelly and Kim join them in the entryway too and greet Dorien.

'Well, you decided to come anyway,' Kim remains at the sidelines, standing in the archway of the living room.

'Yes and I brought someone,' Dorien places the wicker pet carrier on the ground. She opens the steel door of the portable carrier and pulls out the black cat she snatched from her roof.

'Aw how cute!' Nathalie and Kelly want to hold the cat.

'O, o, o, cat! Cat, cat, cat!' Kim points to the animal in fear as if she has just seen a tyrannosaurus.

'Yeah, so?' Nathalie takes the cat from Dorien.

'That's a cat. A cat!'

'So? It's such a cute critter,' she holds the animal in front of her face. The eyes of the black cat light up fluorescent green and then Nathalie's eyes do the same. Afterwards, she carefully cradles the critter in her arms like a fragile newborn baby.

'Cute? Cats are mean, lazy, stuck up, and...evil.'

'Kim, you're overreacting. It's a cat, not a snake,' Kelly scratches the animal under its chin.

'You've clearly never seen a sphinx cat.'

'I haven't, but does that matter? This one's got hair,' she takes the cat from Nathalie. She gasps for breath and suddenly gets a premonition. She sees gleaming, smooth, oily black hands with claws making tantalizing movements. 'Huh, what?'

Filled with disbelief, she holds the cat in front of her face, but then the eyes of the animal light up fluorescent green again. Kelly's eyes momentarily turn fluorescent green as well and then she pets and caresses the cat.

'Kelly, what's wrong? Did you see something?' Kim asks, who obviously noticed that Kelly's breath stopped short, which always happens when she has a premonition.

'Eh? O no, just a shiver.'

'Kim, what's your problem with cats?' Dorien asks.

'First of all, they're mean, secondly they lose their hair all the time, and thirdly...I'm allergic to them.'

'Really?' Kelly brings the cat closer to Kim. _I don't believe that for a second._

The brunette flinches back out of fright. 'No, keep that thing away from me! You know what? I'll go to the kitchen and I'll stay there until that animal is out of here. Toodles!'

She flees through the living room in order to go in a roundabout way through the dining room and the solarium before she has finally run into the kitchen. The others keep worshipping the cat.

* * *

The following moment, the three young women are sitting on the couch in the living room while Dorien is fooling around with her pussy. While she is petting the critter, Nathalie and Kelly try to convince her that she doesn't belong to their coven.

'You see, we're sisters and it's because of our father, our blood tie, that we're witches and have powers. So, you can't be a part of our coven, do you understand?' Nathalie explains to her.

'And you were turned into a werewolf because of a curse, so it wasn't your own magic that was summoned there. We've banished any magic from you that you possessed at the time by destroying your werewolf half. So, you're also not a witch,' Kelly explains in turn.

'I know that the power I had as a werewolf wasn't mine, but I do have other powers now,' Dorien smiles.

'And what might these powers be?' Kelly asks skeptically. _It's impossible for her to have powers; it just can't be._

'Well,' she places the cat on the ground, neatly positions herself on the couch with a straight back, and unfolds her hands, 'see for yourself.'

Suddenly, a green pilot light ignites in her hand. Just like that, a fluorescent green little flame that appears to be floating above her hand is burning in the palm of her hand.

'O my god!' Nathalie and Kelly both freak out.

Right at this moment, Kim enters the living room. 'Okay, I give up. I don't care if that cat is here. Dorien, it's not possible that you...', then she sees the flame, 'O my god!'

'That's what they said,' Dorien grins broadly.

* * *

The Enchanted Ones don't know what to do with Dorien and turn to Ivan for advice. In the meantime, Dorien has shown him her power. He is watching the floating fire equally as surprised as the sisters.

'Well, this is interesting. I mean, it's a bit odd. Last week you were a werewolf and now you're a witch. That's pretty suspicious.' _It even seems a little demonic._

'We thought the same thing,' Kelly crosses her arms.

'When did you discover this power?'

'O, only last night,' Dorien says carelessly.

'Yesterday? Did something else happen then per chance?'

'Well, that's also when I found my kitty, Mittens. I almost burned her tail back then.'

'Kitty, huh? Where's your cat now?'

'She had it with her. That animal is walking around here somewhere, don't ask me where,' Kim crosses her arms. Ivan immediately goes on a search. He walks about and takes a peek in every corner. All of a sudden, Dorien, Kelly, and Nathalie feel obligated to stop him and they follow in his wake like a row of ducklings behind their mother.

'Ivan, is this really necessary? It's just a cat. Surely, it has nothing to do with this,' Kelly tries to persuade him to stop looking.

'Yeah, maybe we should focus on helping Dorien. She's very confused and could really use our help,' Nathalie also tries to divert him from his target.

'They're right. I'm very confused,' Dorien looks at him seeking compassion, but nothing can keep him from his path.

'Are you sure you haven't run into that cat somewhere?' he asks Kim.

'I don't know,' just then Mittens the cat tiptoes back into the living room out of the entryway, 'Look, there it is!'

'O Mittens!' Dorien wants to pick her up, but Ivan stops her. He squats near the cat, picks the animal up, and holds the cat in front of his face.

'Let's see. What makes you so special that causes...' Before he can finish his sentence, Mittens' eyes light up fluorescent green again. For a second, Ivan's eyes light up the same way. Then he stands up, turns around, and tickles the cat's belly.

'That causes what, Ivan?' Kim insists.

'O nothing. This is such a cute little kitty. Yes, you are. Yes, you really are!' he plays with Mittens the same way only single 80-year-old grandmas handle their cats.

'You're right, she's so sweet!' Kelly joins him. She also pets the animal.

'Yup, nothing odd about this cat,' Nathalie starts scratching behind Mittens' ears.

'And so innocent!' Dorien bends over and makes funny faces for the cat.

'O, this is ridiculous!' Kim places her hands on her hips. The others are startled by her blunt reaction and automatically shield Mittens from her.

'Kim, how could you say something like that about such a harmless pet?' Kelly responds, flabbergasted.

'Yes, poor kitty,' Ivan continues hugging the animal. The others are again only concerned with Mittens. They don't even look up from the cat when the bell rings.

'Fine, I'll go,' Kim sacrifices herself with the necessary dose of sarcasm.

* * *

Kim opens the front door and sees an attractive, tall boy with extremely short, crew cut hair on the doorstep. Despite him wearing a thin, dark blue sweatshirt over his sweater, his lightly muscular build shines through.

'Well hello! I don't know you,' Kim smiles. _But I'd sure love to get to know you, meow!_

'I'm here to see Nathalie. We were supposed to go shopping downtown,' the handsome fellow smiles back in a friendly way.

'O, Nathalie? Okay. Hold on. Nathalie!'

Enthusiastically, Nathalie skips to the front door. She hugs Kim from behind and gazes at the boy over the brunette's shoulder with a mischievous yet curious grin.

'Wow, you're handsome,' she giggles.

'I think he knows that all too well,' Kim smirks at her.

'Nathalie, we were going to the city together today, weren't we?' the boy asks, a little more uncertain than before.

'Really? Sure, fun!' she pushes Kim aside and slips sideways out the door. She clamps onto her boyfriend's lightly muscular arm and lays her head on his shoulder. Using her cheek, she gently rubs his shoulder like a cat nuzzling up against its owner.

'Are you sure you're alright?' he raises an eyebrow.

'Ooh, she's just being a little...catty,' Kim reappears in the doorframe, 'Well, have fun!'

She swings the door shut, spins around, and jumps out of her skin. Dorien, Ivan, Kelly, and Mittens (how could it not) are suddenly standing right in front of her.

'Where's Nathalie going?' Kelly pouts.

'Nathalie's on a date with her boyfriend now. We should be happy for her,' Kim takes hold of Kelly's hand in a sisterly gesture.

'But what are we going to do?' Ivan also pouts like a little child while he is petting Mittens.

'We? _We_ aren't going to do anything. You will go back to Magic School, because you have classes to teach, don't you? And I will take the misses Catnip to the attic, so we can educate Dorien on the magical world. How about that?'

'It's okay,' he sighs, disappointed. He hands over Mittens to Dorien and orbs away. Smiling broadly like two little children, Dorien and Kelly look at Kim.

'What are you staring at? Go, skedaddle!' she chases the two of them, and Mittens, to the attic.

* * *

In the attic Kim and Dorien are sitting on an old couch aimed at the attic door while Kelly is playing with Mittens. Kim asks Dorien to show her power once more, so Dorien places her hands pressed together on her lap. She unfolds her hands in a single move and a fluorescent green flame like that of a blowtorch is burning in the palm of her hand again.

'Wow,' Kim flinches back.

'Cool, huh?' Dorien smiles conspiratorially. Intrigued by the fire, Kelly crawls towards her and watches the dancing little flame in awe. Mittens tiptoes along with her and neatly sits down next to her.

'Are you also able to move that flame or something?' Kim asks. Dorien sighs and stands up. She stretches out her right arm in front of her and a fluorescent green beam of fire shoots from her hand. Just like the beam of a flame-thrower, it burns its way through the air and the fire hits an old cardboard box.

The box immediately catches fire and crackles like a fireplace. The fluorescent green flames dance around the edges of the box like a tribe of natives.

Hypnotized by the flames, Kelly crawls to the box. She stretches and lays down beside it as if she were going to sleep. She curls up entirely into a little ball and lies near the burning box like a cat in front of a fireplace. Mittens follows her example, but Kim is less at ease.

'O no, fire!' Kim runs to the other side of the attic and rummages through some boxes. All of a sudden she yanks away a bucket from behind a box of ski equipment and takes it downstairs.

A minute later she runs back into the attic with the bucket, which is now filled to the brim with water. In Kim's determined stride, some water sloshes over the edge, but that is the least of her concern.

Finally at the burning box, she empties the bucket over it. Kelly and Mittens jump out of the way before they get hit by the water pouring down. With a dull splash and a hiss, the water extinguishes the fire and Kim breathes a big sigh of relief.

Kelly and Mittens are less satisfied. Kelly pouts at Kim, but Mittens arches her back and hisses at her.

'Did that cat just hiss at me?'

'Well, you did put out that nice warm fire,' Dorien says sullenly.

'Yeah, and it felt so good,' Kelly licks the back of her hand like a cat cleansing itself.

'That fire was about to make the attic go up in flames. I'm sorry, but in that case I don't give a damn about a cat's opinion,' Kim growls.

'O Kim, you just haven't seen Mittens' adorableness. When you realize what a sweet kitty she is, you'll come around,' Dorien picks up the cat. She holds out the animal to Kim. She nearly shoves it in her face and the critter eagerly stretches its paws towards her.

When Mittens is only an inch away from her, all of a sudden Kim sneezes super loudly. It almost sounds like a balloon popping. It startles the two other girls and Mittens leaps from Dorien's hands in fright. The animal tiptoes to the couch and hides underneath it.

'Great...achoo...now I have to...achoo...sneeze because of that...achoo...stupid cat...achoo! Could this...achoo...get any worse?'

* * *

In the meantime, Nathalie and her boyfriend are in a bar taking a break from shopping, but the boy notices that Nathalie isn't her usual self. He scratches his stubbly head and leans in towards her acros their table.

'Are you sure you're alright?'

Nathalie is just in the middle of polishing a bowl of milk with feline licks. When she looks up at him, she has a white milky moustache and milk drips down the corners of her mouth.

'Yeah sure. Why wouldn't I be?' she rubs her cheek over her shoulder. When a waitress passes by, she tugs at her sleeve. 'Excuse me, could I get another bowl of hot milk, please?'

'Whatever you want,' the waitress removes the previous bowl, 'as long as you pay for it.'

'Is that such a good idea? I mean, people are watching us,' the boy whispers, glancing at the other customers gossiping and throwing disapproving looks in their direction.

'Let them, they're jealous.' With semi-clenched fists, in an almost claw-like grip, she rubs her nose and briefly blows through her nose, like a cat cleaning its face.

'I think we better get going,' he signals the waitress that she can bring the check.

* * *

In the attic, Kim is standing behind the Enchanted Book while Kelly and Dorien are playing with Mittens on the pentagram carpet. As she is flipping the pages, she is still sneezing:

'Achoo...this is so annoying...achoo! I want...achoo...that cat...achoo...out of here later, ...achoo...because I can't...achoo...take it anymore!'

'Fine,' Kelly rolls on her back and rubs her back over the carpet.

'Now Dorien, why do you want to be a witch all of a sudden, aside from suddenly having powers? Achoo!'

'O you know, witchcraft seems fun.' She is sitting on her hands and knees, then leans forward until her chin touches the ground, and extends her arms. In this feline position and completely unbothered, she stretches out.

'Fun? Witchcraft isn't fun at all. I mean, we get chased by demons or attacked by evil almost every week.'

'Oh well, that comes with the territory, I guess? I mean, what you guys did to help those pixies was pretty cool.'

'Cool? Dorien, we killed your friends! We could've helped them if we had looked in the Enchanted Book sooner, but instead we murdered them.'

'Hm, now that you mention it. Oh well, they weren't that good friends anyway,' she rolls on her back. Before Kim can respond in horror, the doorbell rings.

'Who could that be? Stay here, you two!' Kim leaves the attic, but Mittens follows her downstairs, causing Kelly and Dorien to hurry downstairs as well.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kim has opened the front door and she comes eye to eye with Nathalie and her boyfriend. Only Nathalie is clinging to him and rubbing her cheek across his shoulder.

'Back already?' Kim frowns.

'Nathalie really isn't feeling well today...I think,' he pries her off his shoulder. He leads her through the front door and then Kim goes to stand in the doorframe.

'You know, she isn't always this...unstable.'

Meanwhile, Nathalie is holding onto the wooden jamb of the archway of the living room and scratching her nails across the wallpaper.

'I'd really like to believe it, but if she's acting like a...cat, I can't deal with her,' he searches for the word "cat" to best describe Nathalie.

'Like a cat, eh?' Kim looks at her with a fresh pair of eyes. Now Nathalie is leaning against the wall and licking the back of her hand. 'Now that you mention it, she does look awfully a lot like a cat. Maybe you should leave your cellphone number behind, just in case, so she can reach you when she's less...catty?' _And then I'll have your number too._

The boy recites his cellphone number and Kim saves it on her bright pink cellphone. 'Well, then I hope to hear from you or Nathalie later. See ya!'

After he has left, Kim shuts the door and spins around so she can address Nathalie, but she has suddenly vanished. 'Nathalie?'

She hears something tearing up in the living room and follows the sound. There she finds Nathalie sitting on her knees in the couch clawing at a pillow. The pillow case is already torn and now she is pulling out all the stuffing.

'Nathalie, what are you doing?' Kim yanks her away from the pillow. Nathalie cocks her head to the side and pouts as she looks at her. Then she hugs her and rubs her cheek across Kim's chest.

'Okay Nathalie, you love me. Now let go!' Kim pulls her off of her and then Nathalie rocks back and forth like a small child. 'This is all getting too much for me. I need a drink.'

* * *

In the kitchen, Kim takes a bottle of water from the fridge and a glass from the kitchen cabinet. She sees Nathalie advancing on Dorien and Kelly in the entryway. The three of them hug and rub their cheeks against each other's shoulders while they make grunting sounds like purring cats. Kim sits down on the kitchen table and fills the glass with water. She takes a sip of it.

At that moment, Mittens tiptoes inside through the kitchen door. Her long, black tail high up in the air, she bounces to the kitchen cabinet, which she starts scratching up. She moans the entire time with shrill meows.

'O, annoying cat!' Kim drinks from her water again, but Mittens continues to meow loudly.

'Why won't that creature shut up? Hold on,' she stretches her left hand in Mittens' direction and freezes the animal, 'That should keep things quiet for a while.'

Yet she sees Mittens walking onwards and the cat tiptoes down the stairs to the basement. Baffled, Kim spins towards the basement door, from which she can still hear Mittens meowing. She rises from her chair and takes a few steps backwards.

'How is that critter able to move and make noise if I just froze it? The only people that keep moving are my sisters unless...O yeah, o yeah, if I didn't think so: that cat is evil!' Determined, she runs to the kitchen cabinet, opens a drawer, and pulls out a butcher's knife that shares more similarities with an ax than a knife.

* * *

Carefully, Kim pushes the basement door wide open and switches on the light next to her. Step by step she descends the stairs to the basement into the small, still dimly lit space underneath the house.

'Here, little kitty! Kitty, kitty, kitty! Where are you?' Intermittently, she makes brief kissing noises like owners trying to lure their cat. She is on the final step of the short stairs to the basement, squats, and peers around her with the butcher's knife at the ready. 'Come, come, sweet kitty! Come on out, you demonic cat!'

Suddenly, she hears a meow. She immediately shifts towards the origin if the sound. In the right-hand corner of the basement, next to the washing machine, she sees Mittens sitting up straight.

'There you are. Game over, kitty cat! You were supposed to be frozen, but you weren't. O, I know your dirty secret and now you'll meet your miserable fate, flee bag!'

She steps off the final step and approaches Mittens, but the animal stays sitting stoically in the corner. With pursed lips, her emerald green eyes staring into infinity, and her tail hypnotically curling to and fro, she awaits Kim's advancement.

When the brunette is close enough, she lifts her butcher's knife high up in the air, but she suddenly doesn't swing it because she notices something about Mittens.

The cat's shadow suddenly becomes longer and darker. From the coal black shadow, two oily black, claw-like smooth hands appear. As if they have freed themselves of chains after centuries of imprisonment, the fingers of the hands start wiggling.

Behind the oily black hands with the wiggling fingers follow short, scrawny little arms attached to an equally black and smooth upper body that is emaciated. On top of that emaciated upper body rests an oval-shaped, expressionless face.

This face has no nose, ears, mouth, or hair on its head. It is completely tar black and only has two large, luminescent, oval, white eyes. The wiggling fingers appear to be making circles in the air. Kim can actually see these circles.

The dark figure's right hand suddenly rises and stretches wide open. In a powerful telekinetic blast, Kim is propelled backwards. She is catapulted up the stairs to the kitchen, through the open basement door, and lands hard on the kitchen floor.

Struggling, Kim pushes herself up from her stomach. Her hair is a tangled mess and she is covered in scratch marks.

'Ouch, that didn't feel right,' she coughs. When she turns around to lie on her back, she sees Mittens by her feet standing near the basement door. 'No, stay away from me! Help!'

She quickly regains her feet and wants to run into the entryway, but when she opens the kitchen door, Nathalie, Kelly, and Dorien are right in front of her.

'Good, you guys are here. That cat is evil to the deepest core of her heart. There's some kind of demon inside of her and it's really powerful and...' Before she can finish her sentence, Kelly squints her eyes, launching Kim against the kitchen cabinet. She hits her back right up against it and drops to her side on the hard kitchen floor.

'Ouch. Why did you...?' She doesn't need to finish her sentence, because her answer can be seen on their faces. Both Dorien, Nathalie, and Kelly now have fluorescent green eyes and are looking at her while growling.

'I don't need to expect help from you then,' she tries to pull herself up by the cabinet. The possessed Mittens hisses at her. From her shadow, the dark figure reappears. Again its fingers wiggle and now it stretches its left hand. In a new telekinetic blast, Kim gets slid across the kitchen floor into the solarium. The wooden garden bench in there slows her down when she crashes into it.

Dorien runs after Kim and aims her right arm at her. A fluorescent green beam of fire surges towards her.

'Aah!' Kim stretches her hands and freezes Dorien and the beam of fire while she is still lying on the ground. She immediately gets back on her feet and runs to the living room. The dark figure looks at Nathalie, who nods and orbs away.

Meanwhile, Kim is racing through the living room. Just when she reaches the archway of the entryway, Nathalie orbs in in front of her.

'Nathalie, get out of my way, I don't want to hurt you!' Kim warns her. Nathalie doesn't care, because she aims her hand at a lamp behind her.

'Meow!' she calls to the lamp. Of course nothing happens, because that is not how her power works. 'Meow! Meow!'

Cautiously, Kim sneaks up to the coffee table and lifts a vase of flowers. 'Nathalie, are you trying to do this?' She smashes the vase on Nathalie's head. The blonde with the illuminated green eyes drops to the ground, unconscious and bleeding slightly from a head wound.

'Sorry, you left me no choice,' Kim whispers as she steps over her.

* * *

Next, Kim bolts up the stairs. When she reaches the attic, she bangs the door shut behind her and quickly pushes an old armchair in front of it. Then she flips through the Enchanted Book at a rapid pace. 'Come on, a possessed cat! How often do you come across those?'

And then she finds the right page: a drawing of a black cat with emerald green eyes and an oily black, emaciated alien in its shadow. The subtitle reads "feline possessed by a demon" and "Ma'at" is the heading of the page.

'Ma'at, feline possessed by a demon. According to the Egyptians, Ma'at is the embodiment of evil in the form of a cat. Since cats were worshipped in the Ancient Far East, many people fell victim to this demon. Only those possessing a special gift recognized it in its true form. Today this gift is described as an allergy.' _Ooh, that's why!_

'In its feline form, Ma'at is invulnerable, but if it shows its demonic side, it is just as susceptible to attacks as other demons. Alright, just take out that black alien and everything will go back to normal. Of course, I need to make sure not to die trying.' _Piece of cake._

At that moment, someone is trying to ram through the attic door, but to no avail. The armchair Kim shoved in front of the door is holding up.

'Ha! What's the matter, kitty? Can't you manage to get through the heavy door? Boo-hoo,' Kim jeers, but all of a sudden Nathalie, Kelly, Dorien, and Mittens appear in the attic in a surging sea of tiny, powder blue light orbs. 'Okay, I take that back.'

Mittens sits back on her behind and Ma'at reappears from her shadow. The demon wiggles its fingers again and stretches its left hand. Kim is pulled from behind the Enchanted Book and lands on the pentagram carpet.

Nathalie and Kelly advance on her and position themselves on opposite sides of her. Wobbling, Kim stands up, but meanwhile Nathalie is aiming her hand at a cardboard box.

'Box!' she now calls the box in the right way and she sends it towards Kim in a powder blue gust of tiny light orbs. Kelly focusses her gaze on a different box and squints. The box shoots from its place and flies towards Kim.

Kim tumbles forwards, somersaults, and swiftly jumps back up. This causes both boxes to fly past one another and to hit Nathalie and Kelly instead of Kim, thus taking out the two possessed witches.

Now Dorien aims her right hand at Kim and a fluorescent green beam of fire shoots from it. As before, Kim stretches her hands and freezes her and the beam of fire.

Ma'at returns into Mittens' shadow and then the cat briefly meows. Ivan orbs in behind Kim in a swirling flurry of white sparkles. Surprised by his arrival, the teenage witch whirls around.

'O Ivan, I'm so happy to see you. I need help, because...,' but then she notices that his eyes are lit up a fluorescent green too, 'O no!'

The wizard opens the palm of his hand and a perfect orb appears. The orb glows with a bright, white light and hums with electricity. Ivan throws the energy ball towards Kim, but she also freezes him and his attack. Mittens now pounces her and scratches her face.

'Ouch, back off!' she hurls the cat away and scuttles backwards, away from the animal. Hissing and baring her teeth, Mittens advances on her and halts threateningly in between Dorien and Ivan.

'O, you've got to be kidding me? You're going to attack me as a cat? Come on, Ma'at, show me your true self for a change and fight like a real demon,' Mittens takes her neat sitting pose again and Ma'at reappears from her shadow, 'Bad guys, predictable as always.'

Kim makes brief circle motions in the air with her hands, allowing Dorien and Ivan, but their attacks as well, to move again. The fluorescent green beam of fire burns and scorches Ma'at's oily black, smooth skin and the energy ball mercilessly electrocutes the demon.

Its skin starts to light up a glaring white because of the attacks. Its black layer cracks open in certain places and through those small crevices a bright white light shines outwards. The fractures completely tear open and divide Ma'at like a jigsaw puzzle.

Finally, Ma'at bursts to smithereens in a blast and no trace remains, except for cascading little white lights. At the same time, Mittens falls unconscious on the floor. Dorien's and Ivan's eyes go back to their human color. The two of them regain their senses, take a look at the attic, and stare at Kim in astonishment.

'Why is Mittens lying completely still on the floor?' Dorien squeaks.

'Long story,' Kim sighs.

'Does it also have to do with the reason why Kelly and Nathalie are unconscious on the ground?' Ivan peeks behind him.

* * *

After a long explanation and a hospital visit for Nathalie's head wound and Kim's scratch marks, everything goes back to the way it was, or at least almost everything. Dorien just returns home, but instead of being an annoying friend, she is now a confidant who knows the teenage witches' secret. She has also made a new friend: Mittens.

Nothing has changed for the Enchanted Ones, though. Still, they want something new, something they have missed a little the past couple of months: social interaction. That is why they have decided to go to Dorien's party to celebrate the end of finals.

For the occasion, Nathalie has put on dark blue sneakers, dark blue jeans, and a comfortable gray T-shirt with a black vest on top. She has also asked her boyfriend along to make up for the shopping fiasco.

Kelly's party clothes consist of white boots, black jeans with a white belt, a white sleeveless T-shirt, and a black waistcoat. Kim in turn has braided her hair in a long tail and is wearing gray high heels and a sky-blue, strapless dress that reaches just above her knees.

The company of four arrives in the venue of Bouckenborgh, an outhouse of a small white castle surrounded by beeches. Amidst flashing lights and dancing youngsters, Dorien enthusiastically comes towards them.

'Hey! Did you guys decide to come anyway?'

'Yeah, we needed to relax. How's Mittens?' Kelly smiles.

'Surprisingly well. She's such a good girl and sometimes she scratches me...'

'O no! She scratches you?'

'O, but I don't mind. That sweet little kitty can do whatever she wants. Well, have fun and you can get a drink over there!' she points to the outhouse on the opposite side of the park alley leading to the castle. Then she skips off without another word.

'Are you sure she's not still possessed?' Nathalie asks Kim.

'Normally, she shouldn't feel any influence anymore, but perhaps we should have another go at Mittens,' Kim conspiratorially raises her eyebrows.

'Possessed? What are you guys talking about?' Nathalie's boyfriend asks.

'Nothing, Tom! Maybe you can go get me a drink in the meantime?' Nathalie smiles sweetly. Tom nods, gives her a peck on the cheek, and leaves for the other outhouse.

'That was close,' Kim chuckles. Then Nathalie faces her and with a straight face she says:

'You know, if you have a problem with me, you can always tell me.'

'What do you mean?' Kim's eyes grow to the size of saucers.

'Well, I seem to recall you smashing a vase on my head, having knocked me unconscious with a cardboard box, and trying to hit on my boyfriend.'

'I'm sorry about the first two, but I didn't hit on your boyfriend.'

'You asked for his cellphone number!' Nathalie sneers.

'So you could call him,' Kim washes her hands of the accusation.

'I already had his number.'

'If he knew that, then why did he just give me his number?'

That gives Nathalie some pause. 'I'll be right back,' she now heads across the park alley herself.

'O, you're so evil!' Kelly is rendered speechless.

'O no, demonically possessed cats are evil,' Kim chuckles.

'Hm, I'll never truly look at a cat quite the same way again.'

'Welcome to my world!' Kim puts her arm around Kelly.

At the bar, Nathalie confronts her boyfriend Tom and the two of them squabble for a minute at most. Then they give each other a hug and find their way to the dance floor, drink in hand.

'That was quick,' Kelly blinks in surprise.

'I guess it's just going to be an evening between the two of us, Kelly,' Kim sighs.

'Not quite; I took the liberty of inviting a young wizard,' she nods towards the park alley from where Ivan approaches the outhouse. 'Have fun with yourself, Kim!' Kelly tiptoes to her invitee and drags him into the dancing crowd.

Lonesome, Kim is standing in a corner of the venue with a drink in hand. Smiling, she watches while her sisters are dancing and having fun. Occasionally, she sips her ice tea. Suddenly, she is addressed by a classmate, the same classmate who encouraged her to drink alcohol legally on her birthday.

'Hey Kim! How come you're by yourself?' the nearly 6ft. 3in. tall boy asks. He is so tall that he has to lean in to look at her. He has dark blond hair, a long, narrow face, green eyes, an average blunt nose, and full, red lips.

He also has a massive Adam's apple, a cream-colored Caucasian skin, and gigantic hands in comparison to Kim. Aside from the fact that he is a giraffe, he is also very slim, but in proportion to his body he does have broad shoulders.

He is wearing red sneakers and dark blue jeans that are only covering half of his butt ( _if he turned around, I could probably see his underpants_ ) with a brown belt. He is also wearing a white T-shirt with short sleeves underneath a dark gray striped vest with an open zipper, so she can enjoy the view of his slightly muscular chest.

'Hey Peter! I hadn't expected to see you here. Don't you usually go to a little more riotous parties?' Kim smiles at the friendly blond giant.

'Eh, a party's a party! But why is a hot chick like you standing here in a corner?'

'Bah, long story,' she toys with her plastic cup.

'Hm, might it have something to do with your sisters? By the way, how was it possible again that you three are sisters?'

'That's...a long story,' she sighs for lack of a better answer.

'You have a thing for long stories, don't you?' he chuckles.

'That's right, you got me,' she laughs, 'But are you actually allowed to talk to me, because if I remember correctly, you're one of my ex' best buds?'

'Yeah, but your ex isn't here, is he? So, to hell with him! We can talk all we want and then you can tell me all these long stories or we can go dancing or something else. Who knows what might happen tonight?' he grins.

'Careful what you wish for, Peter. It might come true,' she smiles coyly before taking his hand and letting him guide her into the hustle and bustle of the party. _Yes, it might come true._


	9. Announcement

Dear Readers,

To you speaks Enchantednuns (Jense van Gogh), the author of "Enchanted" ( _It's in my nickname after all._ ) I have a very important announcement about the present and future of this story. Before I get to this announcement, let me give you a little background information:

I started writing this story about six years ago, when I was in my sophomore year of high school. From the start, it was a fan fiction centered around my actual high school (including my classmates and teachers) and my clique of friends. So, most of my characters are based on real life people whom I know or have known quite well.

However, one of my main characters is a peculiar case. As I've just mentioned, most of my characters are my actual friends or acquaintances, but Kim was not. Kim is supposed to represent **me**. Or at least, a glorified female version of me.

My friends, who have read my story in its early stages, quickly noticed how Kim had conveniently taken my place in our clique and that I myself was nowhere to be discovered in my book. One of my friends frankly asked me whether Kim was supposed to be a female version of myself. At the time, I denied it, but I've recently come to terms with a profound realization.

All my life I have thought of and fantasized about female protagonists and there would always be a certain recurring character that I emphasized most with. This character is known by a couple of names, but Kim is the most well-developed of them all. It took me all these years to realize that I have always been imagining myself in a glorified, female role because, well, I partially identify as female.

Going through puberty, I often felt my body had betrayed me and was even ashamed of going to public swimming pools. Fantasizing about strong yet beautiful and feminine female protagonists gave my struggling teenage mind an outlet for its conflicting feelings. Add to that the fact that I am gay and my confusion during puberty skyrocketed.

As of late, with societal changes and the broadening of the idea of gender, I have come to terms with the fact that I do not whole-heartedly identify as male. I cannot at this point tell you in what way I do identify as male and to what extent I see myself as female, but that doesn't matter. Labels often confuse just about as much as they clarify. What I can tell you, though, is that I **won't** be going through a sex change any time soon and that I **won't** suddenly become a dragqueen.

This realization, however, has led me to reconsider "Enchanted" and Kim, specifically. I can't keep lying to myself and portray my clique without me in it. Replacing me by someone who is basically me, but with a vagina, just doesn't cut it. So, I have decided to gender bend Kim (into myself) and insert myself into my own story, making it all the more autobiographical.

I have discussed this with three people, one of whom a fellow gay Flemish author with a tad bit more experience than me. He told me my gender bend wasn't enough. Why stop at gender bending one character and not change your entire story so it becomes an original?

I must admit I was utterly flabbergasted and afraid of all the work I'd have to do ( _Ain't nobody got time fo' that!_ ), but soon my mind started churning. The mere suggestion of turning away from fan fiction and rewriting my story into an original got my creative juices flowing. It'll be a daunting task, but I'm excited for what's to come.

So, my dear Readers, to sum up, my announcement is that **I will change almost everything about this story that makes it a Charmed fan fiction** , including gender bending Kim. For you, FanFiction Readers, it means I will have to stop posting chapters on this site because it is meant for fan fiction and not original stories. However, most **plots** , settings, dialogues, etc. **will remain the same** , so the story itself won't exactly change.

So, dear Readers, if you want to accompany me on this exciting journey to apparent originality and want to continue reading this story, you can find me on Wattpad under the same name (Enchantednuns). The title of the story won't change either. Although it'll lose its Charmed touch, it'll never lose its magic! Thank you for bearing with me.

With love,

Jense (Enchantednuns)


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